# Green Energy / Climate Issues - Failures - Lies and Falsehoods



## GURPS

ANOTHER “GREEN” CATASTROPHE​

We briefly noted here the agricultural apocalypse occurring in Sri Lanka:



> [W]here are the environmentalists in all this? They are doing their best to reduce agricultural output. In Sri Lanka, the government mandated organic farming, with the result that yields declined catastrophically, prices skyrocketed, and, no doubt, many died.



The London Times had a more detailed account last month, headlined: “How Sri Lanka’s shift to organic farming left it in the manure.”



> What turned Sri Lanka’s economic situation from difficult to catastrophic was the decision by the Rajapaksa government to implement a nationwide ban on synthetic fertiliser. It was made not at the behest of neoliberal economists doing the bidding of global capital, but rather on the advice of environmentalists in the name of sustainable agriculture.
> ***
> [T]hat strategy backfired in spectacular fashion. Domestic rice production fell by 14 per cent from 2021 to 2022, forcing the nation, long self-sufficient in rice production, to import hundreds of millions of dollars of rice and more than eroding all of the savings from ceasing fertiliser imports. On top of that, the ban decimated tea production, leading to a $425 million economic loss to the industry in its first six months of implementation. Tea, one of the nation’s primary crops, is a key source of its total export income, making a bad foreign exchange situation far worse.
> ***
> Any competent agronomist could have predicted the result. And many did. Long-term use of synthetic fertilisers had helped Sri Lanka become not only food-secure but a major agricultural exporter. A survey of Sri Lanka’s farmers last July found that 75 per cent of them relied on synthetic fertilisers. For crops that are crucial sources of foreign currency and domestic food security — tea, rubber and rice — the dependence was even higher.
> ***
> But the government ignored its own agricultural experts, instead convening representatives of the nation’s small organic sector to guide the nation’s agricultural policies. The result turned a bad situation into a disaster.




It is hard to overstate how destructive contemporary environmentalism has been around the world. Here in the U.S., we haven’t seen the kind of economic collapse experienced by countries like Sri Lanka, but it isn’t because the greenies haven’t been trying.

https://www.facebook.com/share.php?...source=facebook&utm_medium=sw&utm_campaign=sw


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## GURPS

Wells Fargo is latest bank to set emissions reduction rules on lending for oil, gas companies​

Wells Fargo has become the latest major financial institution to set new greenhouse gas standards requiring borrowers in the energy sector to reduce emissions.

Oil and natural gas companies must reduce their absolute emissions by 26% by 2030, based on 2019 emission levels, Wells Fargo said last week. Other power sector businesses must see a 60% reduction during the same time period.


The new rules from Wells Fargo are part of a trend from financial institutions around the world to implement such climate regulations for its lending programs, joining the likes of Citigroup Inc. and the United Nations-convened Net-Zero Banking Alliance. The alliance is an industry-led coalition of banks from across the globe with the goal to align their lending and investments with net-zero emissions by 2050.


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## GURPS

Grid operators warn of electricity shortage amid switch to renewables: Report​

Electric-grid operators from across the country are warning of the potential for blackouts as companies attempt to transition to green energy sources.

"I am concerned about it," MISO Chief Executive John Bear told the Wall Street Journal in a report Sunday. "As we move forward, we need to know that when you put a solar panel or a wind turbine up, it’s not the same as a thermal resource."

Extreme heat and wildfires over the summer could lead to a shortage of energy in California, the state's grid operator told WSJ. The Midwest could face similar issues with MISO warning of capacity shortages that could lead to outages.

The issue is on the rise throughout the country as many traditional and nuclear power plants are being retired to make way for renewable sources of energy, but the plants are going offline faster than renewable energy and battery storage can keep up.


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## GURPS

Howard, during a PSC session Thursday, said local pols “totally obfuscated” the costs of the plan because the sticker shock would have made the initiative unpopular.

The law, which Cuomo signed in a ceremony with Al Gore at his side, requires New York to slash greenhouse emissions by 40% by 2030 and no less than 85% by 2050 by transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, such as hydropower, solar and wind. The state Climate Action Council, meanwhile, is charged with developing a plan to put the state on a path toward zero carbon emissions.

Lawmakers, Howard said, refused to directly vote to raise taxes to pay for the capital investments required to develop cleaner energy alternatives to fossil fuels — and left the PSC to be the fall guy.

The commission — which regulates power utilities — was tasked with approving rate increases to pay for the capital investments required to comply with the new green-deal inspired law.

Con Edison and other utilities will pass on those costs to customers.










						‘Green New Deal’ plan will cost NYers ‘hundreds of billions’ in energy bills: official
					

New Yorkers will have to pay “hundreds of billions of dollars” in higher utility bills due to the state’s “Green New Deal”-inspired plan, according to a top energy regulatory offi…




					nypost.com


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## GURPS

Putin’s Useful Idiots: How U.S. Climate Extremists Are Funding Russia’s Agenda​

These suspicious donations to radical environmental groups could be part of the larger geopolitical strategy Putin used to execute greater control over Europe before his invasion of Ukraine. For instance, if the United States had ramped up natural gas production, Putin could not today be blackmailing Poland and Bulgaria by cutting off their energy supply. Had America allowed more investment in fracking and other energy production, Putin would not have strategic leverage over Europe.

*Most Americans know Putin does not want to see the United States succeed. What they may not know is these anti-energy groups acting under the guise of “environmental justice” are funded by a handful of wealthy Americans who are either blindingly naïve to the role they have played in supporting Putin’s agenda or willfully complicit.*

There is no more notorious example than the Heinz Endowment, led by Teresa Heinz, wife of U.S. climate envoy John Kerry. Under her watch, the endowment has deployed at least $13 million toward anti-shale activism since 2008, killing jobs and prosperity in their own Pennsylvania backyard and unnecessarily forcing America to give up market share to tyrants like Putin.

The Heinz fortune funds dozens of Pennsylvania groups engaged in killing pipelines and natural gas production. One of their beneficiaries, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, is successfully fighting to keep a ban on natural gas production in the Delaware River Basin that is preventing access to vast new reserves.

In fact, Pennsylvania, where the Heinz family made their fortune and is still based, is bearing the brunt of this campaign. The latest example is the Keystone State’s addition to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Sierra Club and NRDC lobbied in favor of expanding the interstate compact to tax carbon emissions to include Pennsylvania, even though scientists at Penn State found 86 percent of carbon emissions will simply move to nearby states.


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## GURPS

Why are we feeding crops to our cars when people are starving?​

There’s nothing complicated about the effects of turning crops into biofuel. If food is used to power cars or generate electricity or heat homes, either it must be snatched from human mouths, or ecosystems must be snatched from the planet’s surface, as arable lands expand to accommodate the extra demand. But governments and the industries that they favour obscure this obvious truth. They distract and confuse us about an evidently false solution to climate breakdown.

From inception, the incentives and rules promoting biofuels on both sides of the Atlantic had little to do with saving the planet and everything to do with political expediency. Angela Merkel pushed for an EU biofuels mandate as a means of avoiding stronger fuel economy standards for German motor manufacturers. In the US, they have long been used to prop up the price of grain and provide farmers with a guaranteed market. That’s why the Biden administration, as the midterm elections loom, remains committed to this cruelty.

As the investigative group Transport & Environment shows, the land used to grow the biofuels consumed in Europe covers 14m hectares (35m acres): an area larger than Greece. Of the soy oil consumed in the European Union, 32% is eaten by cars and trucks. They devour 50% of all the palm oil used in the EU and 58% of the rapeseed oil. Altogether, 18% of the world’s vegetable oil is turned into biodiesel, and 10% of the world’s grains are transformed into ethanol, to mix with petrol.

A new report by Green Alliance, an independent thinktank, shows that the food used by the UK alone for biofuels could feed 3.5 million people. If biofuel production ceased worldwide, according to one estimate, the saved crops could feed 1.9 billion human beings. The only consistent and reliable outcome of this technology is hunger.


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## Kyle




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## GURPS

Amen. Put another way, the left must _destroy_ all relevant facts, data, history, logic and common sense if they are to be successful in their fearmongering efforts. Nonetheless, the Louisiana senator continued piling damning facts on Joe Biden and the Democrats.



> Now, high oil prices are also waterboarding our farmers which contributes to these high food prices. Did you know that we make industrial fertilizer with fossil fuels? And when natural gas costs more, so does fertilizing a field of wheat or corn or soybeans. Some of our herbicides right now are twice as expensive as they were—if farmers can find them.
> Now, what does that mean for Louisiana rice farmers and other growers? For every extra dime farmers spend on a gallon of diesel—every extra dime—a grower will spend about $4.50 more for an acre of rice, $2.30 more for an acre of cotton, and an extra $1.74 for an acre of corn. Corn growers — I mentioned corn growers — they also depend on nitrogen fertilizer, which we make with methane.
> And then corn—I mentioned corn—goes into cereal, goes into sweetened drinks, peanut butter, baby food, ketchup, and salad dressing. You know, I don’t mean to be ugly, but this administration’s energy policy is deeply, profoundly stupid.



No doubt a reference to Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia to beg the kingdom for oil — purely for politically expedient purposes — Kennedy warned of the danger attached to relying on foreign oil imports.



> For the sake of Americans’ economic futures and for the sake of our national security, Mr. President, we cannot continue to rely on foreign oil imports—we can’t—while pretending to run this country using wind, solar and wishful thinking. Because that’s what the president’s new policy is on energy. It’s wind. It’s solar. It’s wishful thinking. Wishful thinking doesn’t fill gas tanks or grocery carts.


This was a brutal beatdown. A well-deserved beatdown, of course, but a U.S. senator _burning the president of the United States to a charcoal briquette_ — on the floor of the U.S. Senate, no less.











						WATCH: Sen. John Kennedy Piles Damning Facts on Biden's 'Deeply, Profoundly Stupid' Energy Policy
					

Joe Biden is, once again, done in by facts.




					redstate.com


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## GURPS

Now, two new studies suggest that Biden and the Democrats are full of either don’t know what they’re talking about, lying, or both. Yeah, I know; both possibilities would be “shocking.” [eye-roll emoji]

Based on separate studies published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and J.D. Power, electric vehicles are worse for the environment than gas-powered vehicles, and battery-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles have more quality issues than gas-powered vehicles.

First, the Democrat schtick that EVs are better for the environment, via the NBER.



> By quantifying the externalities (both greenhouse gases and local air pollution) generated by driving these vehicles, the government subsidies on the purchase of EVs, and taxes on electric and/or gasoline miles, researchers found that “electric vehicles generate a negative environmental benefit of about -0.5 cents per mile relative to comparable gasoline vehicles (-1.5 cents per mile for vehicles driven outside metropolitan areas).
> Researchers specifically pointed out that despite being treated by regulators as “zero-emission vehicles,” electric cars are not emissions-free. Charging an EV increases electricity demand. Renewal resources supply only 20 percent of the country’s electricity needs. The remaining 80 percent were generated by fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, despite billions of dollars in green subsidies.



The American Economic Review summed it up nicely:



> The comparison between a gasoline vehicle and an electric one is really a comparison between burning gasoline or a mix of coal and natural gas to move the vehicle.


Joe? Coal, Joe. You _know_ how much you hate coal, man. And what about EV batteries? Via Bloomberg:



> The link is graphite, a vital component in batteries used in Tesla’s Model S, Toyota’s plug-in Prius, and other electric cars, as well as in electronic gadgets including iPhones.
> It’s mostly mined and processed in China where graphite pollution has fouled air and water, damaged crops, and raised health concerns.
> Now, in response, Chinese authorities are closing dozens of graphite mines and processors in a bid for cleaner air even as global demand for the commodity is surging.











						Two New Studies Drain the Juice out of Biden's Electric Vehicle Schtick
					

Biden doesn't know what he's talking about, lying, or both.




					redstate.com


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## GURPS

British eco-zealots who have slashed tires of at least 40 gas-guzzling SUVs in NYC now attack cars in Chicago, San Francisco and Scranton as they 'massively expand' operation after wreaking havoc in UK​
*The Tire Extinguishers have slashed more than 5,000 tires since March*
*The UK-based movement has spread across the US in the last month*
*The group deflated tires on 40 SUV and luxury cars in NYC in late June*
*They recently hit cars in Chicago, San Francisco and Scranton, Pennsylvania*
*Climate activists have promised to 'expand massively' in the coming weeks*


The Tire Extinguishers claim SUVs and 4x4 vehicles are a 'disaster for our health, our public safety and our climate.'

The group alleges that government officials and policies have 'failed to protect us from this danger' so they have chosen to take action into their own hands.

'We want to make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world's urban areas,' the group's web site states.

'We do this by deflating the tres (sic) of these massive, unnecessary vehicles, causing inconvenience and expense for their owners.'

[clip]

'The Tire Extinguishers want to see bans on SUVs in urban areas, pollution levies to tax SUVs out of existence, and massive investment in free, comprehensive public transport,' the group told Fox News in June.

'But until politicians make this a reality, Tire Extinguishers action will continue.'


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## stgislander

GURPS said:


> British eco-zealots who have slashed tires of at least 40 gas-guzzling SUVs in NYC now attack cars in Chicago, San Francisco and Scranton as they 'massively expand' operation after wreaking havoc in UK​
> *The Tire Extinguishers have slashed more than 5,000 tires since March*
> *The UK-based movement has spread across the US in the last month*
> *The group deflated tires on 40 SUV and luxury cars in NYC in late June*
> *They recently hit cars in Chicago, San Francisco and Scranton, Pennsylvania*
> *Climate activists have promised to 'expand massively' in the coming weeks*
> 
> 
> The Tire Extinguishers claim SUVs and 4x4 vehicles are a 'disaster for our health, our public safety and our climate.'
> 
> The group alleges that government officials and policies have 'failed to protect us from this danger' so they have chosen to take action into their own hands.
> 
> 'We want to make it impossible to own a huge polluting 4x4 in the world's urban areas,' the group's web site states.
> 
> 'We do this by deflating the tres (sic) of these massive, unnecessary vehicles, causing inconvenience and expense for their owners.'
> 
> [clip]
> 
> 'The Tire Extinguishers want to see bans on SUVs in urban areas, pollution levies to tax SUVs out of existence, and massive investment in free, comprehensive public transport,' the group told Fox News in June.
> 
> 'But until politicians make this a reality, Tire Extinguishers action will continue.'


Scranton???


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## Sneakers

stgislander said:


> Scranton???


They have relatives there....


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## TPD

So additional tires need to be made to replace the ones that are slashed.  And what are tires made with?  Yup - oil.  So yeah these greenies are making a difference in carbon emissions.


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## Sneakers

TPD said:


> So additional tires need to be made to replace the ones that are slashed.  And what are tires made with?  Yup - oil.  So yeah these greenies are making a difference in carbon emissions.


Not to mention contributing to the waste issue.


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## SamSpade

stgislander said:


> Scranton???


Biden territory?
Sort of?


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## GURPS

'I will not back down': Biden says he will use executive powers to force through his agenda after Manchin said he could not back his green agenda​
'Action on climate change and clean energy remains more urgent than ever. So let me be clear: if the Senate will not move to tackle the climate crisis and strengthen our domestic clean energy industry, I will take strong executive action to meet this moment,' Biden said.

'I will not back down: the opportunity to create jobs and build a clean energy future is too important to relent,' Biden added.

He also signaled support for a narrow bill whittled down to legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower prescription drug costs. It would be a far cry from his original Build Back Better plan, but might at least provide Democrats a win leading into Labor Day campaigning.


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## GURPS

> The European Union is divided on how to help poorer nations fight a growing food crisis and address shortages of fertilisers caused by the war in Ukraine, with some fearing a plan to invest in plants in Africa would clash with EU green goals. (…)
> At a summit of EU leaders [in late June], the EU was planning a new initiative that would structurally decrease poorer nations’ reliance on Russian fertilisers by helping them develop their own fertiliser plants.





> But at a meeting with EU envoys last week, the *EU Commission explicitly opposed* the text, warning that *supporting fertiliser production in developing nations would be inconsistent with the EU energy and environment policies*, officials said.



The plague of the green agenda is not limited to food security in Africa. As Tucker Carlson noted in his Fox News op-ed on Tuesday, these globalist policies are wreaking havoc on Ghana’s power sector as well.

Since Ghana signed a deal with the DC-based World Bank to ‘cut carbon emissions’ in 2019,  the country is in the grip of massive power outages that impact ordinary people and industrial production alike.

Tucker Carlson writes:



> So, the Green New Deal is actually taking effect around the world. So, we don’t have to guess what would happen if it took effect here. We can know. That’s science. Let’s start with Ghana. Ghana’s a pretty little country, peaceful place, actually, on the west coast of Africa. Three years ago, Ghana was in great shape. It had *one of the fastest-growing economies in the world*. In fact, it had so much energy over most of the last decade, it was exporting it to its neighbors in West Africa.
> Now, those energy exports from Ghana peaked in 2014. Why that year? Well because the next year, the World Bank published this headline on its website, “World Bank approves largest-ever guarantees for Ghana’s Energy Transformation.” Oh, when they promise to transform your energy, slow down. But Ghana didn’t slow down.
> They just kept going. The *World Bank promised to provide, and we’re quoting, “technical assistance for energy sector reforms and the drafting of a new renewable energy law.”* So, in return for all this help, Ghana agreed to limit its carbon emissions, and then they entered the Paris climate agreement. Oh, how virtuous. What happened next? This is the part you don’t read that much about.
> Last year, *Ghana experienced a complete shutdown of its national power supply.* No more electricity, no emissions, because we have no electricity, and blackouts have continued since then. Just yesterday, a news source in Ghana reported that, “Residents in parts of the Ashanti region who have been hit with power cuts are without water as well,” because it turns out you need electricity to provide water also to grow food. Now, this is not a small thing. The Ashanti region has millions of people living in it. They’re all now living in the Stone Age and it’s not just the energy grid that’s now compromised in Ghana.











						After Sri Lanka, Globalist Green Agenda Pushes Ghana on Brink of Collapse
					

From the Netherlands to Sub-Saharan Africa, 'Climate Change' policies devastate farmers' livelihood and food supply.




					legalinsurrection.com


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## GURPS

As green policies trigger protests, economic crisis abroad, Biden clings to climate change agenda​
ESG is "how they get to push their woke agenda into the corporate boardrooms, by mandating these new ESG provisions," said Morrisey, adding, "that's how you try to get the private sector market to do what the government lacked authority to do."

Texas Republican state Rep. Steve Toth argues that Biden administration support for ESG policies further undermines domestic oil and gas production, even as gas prices surpassed $5 a gallon for the first time in June and oil from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve is being shipped overseas due to a lack of refinery capacity. 

"Lay off this stupid ESG — environmental social governance," Toth told the "Just the News, Not Noise" TV show on Wednesday. "We have so many small and medium-sized oil and gas providers that would love to drill wells, but they can't get access to capital to drill the wells. And if they can come across someone to finance the well, so that they can drill it, they can't get insurance companies out of Wall Street to underwrite the drilling of the well, because of environmental social governance scores the Biden administration is pushing to try and kill the petroleum and gas industry. It's just absolutely ludicrous."

The Biden administration knows "what the problem is," Toth said. "They know that it's their own making, it's their own doing. And yet, they're continuing to say stupid things like gas station owners are the problem. How ridiculous."


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## GURPS

We read a LOT of crazy from climate harpies​


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

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## Kyle

Chicken Little Syndrome.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Cryptocurrencies are “mined” as computers operate “proof of work” algorithms that solve complicated mathematical problems, thereby earning new tokens. According to the letter — signed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and other lawmakers — the amount of power used to procure the coins now rivals the total annual energy usage of countries like Norway or Sweden, and may surpass the reductions in greenhouse gas emissions ascribed to electric cars.

The letter urges Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan to “require emissions and energy use reporting by cryptominers.”

“State and federal regulators currently know little about the scope of the problem. There is no national or state reporting requirement or compilation of the locations of cryptomining facilities in the United States, and no federal regulations specifically governing cryptomining,” the lawmakers explained. “Consequently, policymakers and the public do not have a comprehensive source of information about where these operations are located, how much energy they consume, and what their sources of energy are — and without the energy use and source reporting, there is a subsequent lack of data regarding the associated air emissions of pollutants or carbon dioxide.”












						Democrats Target Crypto Companies Because Their Carbon Footprints Are Too Big | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


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## GURPS

Biden's quiet 'Green New Deal' in corporate America​
ESG is more powerful than legislation because activists force behavior by cutting off necessary capital or insurance from disfavored companies and industries or using their influence to cancel those who don’t comport with their politics. This is happening in Utah.

The company that provides business insurance to a Utah-based power plant owned by cities in Utah and Nevada recently informed the company it will no longer insure the plant. The insurer has signed onto a net zero climate initiative originating in Europe. The insurance market for such power plants is highly consolidated, so there are not a lot of options.

Why did the insurer decide to stop providing insurance? Because the power generated is derived from coal. If we follow this to its natural conclusion, insurance companies committed to net zero climate initiatives have declared war on citizens of our state through the implementation of economic sanctions. If this agenda is successful and the activists and NGOs behind these actions can convince all insurance providers to play along, which many of them have, power will be shut off to large portions of the population.

ESG is coercive capitalism, the use of capital and insurance to drive a political agenda. S&P Global recently began publishing ESG ratings on states. The analysis includes ambiguous and open-ended categories such as how a state scores on "managing carbon," "political unrest stemming from community and social issues" and "adverse publicity that results in reputational risk." What other state historically has suffered more "adverse publicity…result[ing] in reputational risk" than Utah?

To our knowledge, such subjective criteria have not previously factored into borrowing costs. Utah has methodically and carefully managed revenues and debts over decades to maintain the best credit rating in the world, which allows the state to borrow money at the lowest rates in the market and save taxpayer dollars on necessary infrastructure projects. But that may not matter if organizations like S&P continue to publish a subjective political rating. Investors could point to an ESG rating and decide Utah is undeserving of the lowest market rates because we have the wrong policies. Beyond that, will we now have to coddle the press for fear of adverse publicity damaging our reputation and thereby hurting our borrowing costs?


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Most Americans are all for doing “something” about climate change but aren’t willing to pay very much to do it. If it’s a problem, it’s a global one. The U.S. cannot fix it alone. Every nation must participate. Some, like China, simply refuse and its use of coal is rising so fast that it wipes out any benefit the reduction of U.S. carbon emissions has had. 

Most Americans don’t realize how reliant on China the Biden plan is. The hoped-for transition to producing electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar can’t happen without cheap Asian-made solar panels being allowed into the United States. Without them, the nation can look forward to rolling brownouts – which the White House would like to avoid in the coming summer months, causing it to move quickly to suspend the tariffs on them for two years, despite credible evidence of dumping.

Allowing Chinese-made solar panels and solar panels that use materials made and mined in China, probably by slave labor, into the U.S. marketplace because our government’s policies created a need for them is bad policy. The president’s use of the Defense Production Act to increase American-based solar panel production is a diversion, as Nick Iacovella, a senior vice president at the pro-manufacturing group Coalition for a Prosperous America inferred when he said, “You can’t say that you want to spur domestic production, and then allow the Chinese to continue to dump product, which is a direct threat and something that is working against increasing domestic production.” 

What Biden wants and is doing takes U.S. energy resources off the board and stifles the innovations of producers working to supply Americans with cleaner, more affordable energy. Former Congressman Harold Ford, D-Tenn., got it right when he urged President Biden to “stop vilifying U.S. energy producers, many of which are leading the development of technologies to mitigate carbon emissions and make the transition to cleaner energy.”












						Biden’s Green Energy Future Relies Too Much On China’s Solar Boondoggle
					

Most Americans don’t realize how reliant on China the Biden plan is.




					issuesinsights.com


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## GURPS

Dem Sen. Heinrich: ‘We’re Going to Solve Inflation with a Climate Bill’ and ‘Every Bill’ Should Deal with Climate​
On Wednesday’s broadcast of NBC’s “MTP Now,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) argued that Democrats should say that “we’re going to solve inflation with a climate bill” and that in Congress, “we need to be doing climate all of the time now” and that “every bill we do, whether it’s an appropriations bill or whether it’s a policy bill,” should have climate provisions because “we’ve reached a point where our climate is truly at a tipping point. We’re losing this battle and losing control of the weather.”

Heinrich stated, “_t really is our addiction to fossil fuels that is driving the out-of-control frustration and inflation that our constituents are feeling.”

He added, “And honestly, I think that every bill we do, whether it’s an appropriations bill or whether it’s a policy bill, we need to be doing climate all of the time now. Because as you’ve seen from not only Texas, the southwest, Europe, we’ve reached a point where our climate is truly at a tipping point. We’re losing this battle and losing control of the weather. And we need to be acting with every single opportunity, whether that’s the administration, whether that’s Congress, whether that’s state and local leadership.”

Heinrich further stated that “inflation is also a critical, critical issue. And we need to connect the dots and say, well, we’re going to solve inflation with a climate bill that is going to bring down the cost of energy for consumers and switch us over to cleaner, cheaper sources of energy.” And that “the solution to many of our inflationary issues really is some of the policies that are in that climate bill.”_


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## GURPS

Instead, we have a new class of globalist elites who believe that _they_ should control the planet and the lives of everyone on it. Economically secure and politically independent people are difficult to control, so we find ourselves in a situation where our economic security and our political independence are being threatened by those who have made their fortunes in the system they now seek to undermine.


There is no security without food. Global efforts to control farmland and farming, therefore, are creating worldwide worries.

Protests have erupted in the Netherlands in response to "green" regulations to reduce nitrogen emissions, which come mostly from farmers, by half. (Similar regulations imposed in Sri Lanka destroyed that country's agricultural output and its economy.) The Dutch government has stated that "there (will not be) a future for all farmers" to continue to operate, and EU politicians are calling for a certain percentage of farms to be closed or sold. "Solidarity" protests are now taking place in Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain.

China owns more than $2 billion in U.S. farmland. Microsoft founder and billionaire Bill Gates is now the largest private owner of farmland in the United States, with more than 270,000 acres. Just this month, he acquired another 2,100 acres of farmland in North Dakota. The purchase was originally blocked, but the state's attorney general ultimately permitted the sale to go through because the farmland "will be leased back to farmers."












						The 'Green' Globalist Elites Will Make Serfs of Us All
					

What do you call an economic system where a relative few individuals own all the land and most of the people who live on that land do so at the sufferance of the landowner?




					townhall.com


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS

The protest was staged at the Uffizi Galleries where the 10-foot tall painting is housed alongside other works by the 15th-century artist. A trio of demonstrators arrived with a sign reading, in Italian, “Last Generation, No Gas No Coal,” police said. One activist helped hold the banner while the other two attached themselves to the 540-year-old masterpiece. All three were reportedly members of a protest group called “Ultima Generazione,” which translates to “Last Generation.”

No damage was done to the painting. Its protective covering was installed several years ago.

The protesters, two women and one man, were all Italian. They were arrested and told not to return to Florence until 2025.











						Environmentalists glue themselves to Italian masterpiece
					

Gluing one's self to a famous painting has become a popular from of protest in recent weeks




					www.nydailynews.com


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## GURPS

Yesterday, ZeroHedge ran a story headlined, “Germans Taking Fewer Showers In Response To Cost Of Living Crisis.” It should have read, “Germans Take Fewer Showers as Sacrifice for Elite’s Russia Sanctions.”

A Bild newspaper poll found the majority of Germans are getting smellier by the minute: 62% of respondents said they’d recently reduced their time in the shower, and are also showering less often. Almost half of the respondents (45%) said they were preparing for a difficult winter, like stocking up on firewood, or buying wood-burning stoves and generators.

Earlier this month, Hamburg’s environmental minister warned Germans about mandates if they don’t get their energy usage down voluntarily: hot water could be rationed, and maximum room temperatures could be set by the government. Another minister said Germans should just try turning off the heat and wearing sweaters.

Frans Timmermans, European Commission vice-president, recently suggested EU citizens should “support Ukraine” and help Russia sanctions by taking fewer showers, by not driving their cars, and by airing their clothes out instead of washing them. I’m not making that up.

Remember, Germany is in the midst of a heat wave.





It’s a very sweaty time in Germany right now. No showers? Just “air out” clothes? It must be a European thing.

Earlier this month, Summit News ran a related story headlined, “Germany’s Largest Residential Landlord to Impose Heating Rationing For Tenants.”

That would be illegal in the United States. Just saying.

The article says Germany’s largest residential landlord — which owns a half-million properties — has notified tenants it will impose energy rationing this winter, which will automatically cut tenants’ heating at night, because of falling gas imports from Russia.

Heater temperatures will be strictly limited to a maximum of 62 degrees.

So. No showers, no heating. These Ukraine sanctions are really teaching the Germans a lesson they won’t forget!









						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Saturday, July 23, 2022 ☙ DODGEY 🦠
					

Super-Dodgers; School board pays up after 1st amendment violations; Birx always knew; bad booster stats from Canada; Time Mag says infinite boosters; four healthy Toronto docs kick the bucket; more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## GURPS

US Postal Service Set to Make 40 Percent of New Mail Trucks Electric​
The Pollution Myth​The push to make USPS adopt electric cars is based on the assumption that electric vehicles are more environmentally-friendly than combustion engine vehicles. Multiple studies have shown this to be false.

In a 2018 article for Politico, Jonathan Lesser, the president of Continental Economics, revealed that newer combustion engine vehicles tend to be “really clean” when compared to old ones.

“Today’s [combustion engine] vehicles emit only about 1 percent of the pollution than they did in the 1960s, and new innovations continue to improve those engines’ efficiency and cleanliness,” Lesser wrote.

After taking into consideration the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s projected number of new electric vehicles, Lesser found that the net reduction in CO2 emissions between 2018 and 2050 will only be “about one-half of one percent of total forecast U.S. energy-related carbon emissions.” This is a change so small that it will have “no impact whatsoever” on climate, Lesser asserts.

A 2020 study by Michael Kelly (pdf), the emeritus Prince Philip professor of technology at the University of Cambridge, found that if the UK were to replace all its combustion engine vehicles with electric vehicles, the country will need almost twice the annual global production of cobalt, almost the entire world’s neodymium, over 50 percent of the world’s 2018 copper production, and three-quarters of the global output of lithium carbonate.

If all vehicles in the world were to be electrified, it would need such a large output of raw materials that even exceeds the known reserves of these materials. The environmental impact of mining these materials on such a large scale, some of which are toxic, would be massive.


----------



## GURPS

A recent report by CRES Forum cited data showing Russian gas transported via pipeline to Europe has 41% higher greenhouse gas emissions than U.S. liquified natural gas to Europe, even taking into account the emissions produced by shipping the material.

Just this week, the Institute for Energy Research released a new report arguing that, when correcting for various errors in how greenhouse gas emissions are currently calculated, oil produced in California has lower emissions than foreign crude oil imports, including from places such as Iraq, Ecuador, and Saudi Arabia.

A few weeks earlier, the World Bank published data showing the U.S. has made great strides in reducing flaring, which is the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction. Biden has said he wants to end the practice by 2030.

The U.S. has seen a 46% reduction in flaring intensity, the volume of gas flared per barrel of oil produced, over the past decade and last year was better than almost every country at limiting it, according to the World Bank data.











						By turning abroad and snubbing US oil producers, Biden undermines own climate agenda
					

"The past 18 months without a doubt have been the most challenging regulatory and political environment that U.S. producers have ever faced," said Tim Stewart, president of U.S. Oil and Gas Association.




					justthenews.com


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## GURPS

The Battery That Will Make Fossil Fuels & Nuclear Power A Thing Of The Past​

It seems mad that in this day and age, we are still digging up oil and burning it for power. This archaic method not only destroys the planet, it is also expensive and has even kickstarted wars. But a recent innovation could make fossil fuels, and even some next-gen power sources, completely obsolete by making solar and wind far cheaper and greener. Welcome to the miraculous world of the CO² battery.

Firstly, what is a CO² battery?

Well, it is a system that stores energy by changing the state of carbon dioxide in a closed loop. When the battery is discharged, it is just a massive dome filled with atmospheric pressure carbon dioxide. To charge it, the carbon dioxide is pumped out of the dome and compressed, which heats it up. The heat is removed and stored in a device known as a TES (Thermal Energy Storage), which turns the carbon dioxide into a cold, dense liquid that is then stored in tanks. Now energy is stored as heat in the TES and as pressure in the liquid carbon dioxide tanks.

Discharging the battery is a two-step process. Firstly, the tanks are opened, which releases the high-pressure liquid carbon. As the carbon exits the tank, the pressure drops, which causes it to transition back into a gas and rapidly expand. This gas is then passed through the TES, where it is heated and expands even further. This double expansion creates colossal pressure, which is channelled through a turbine that spins a generator and makes electricity. The now atmospheric pressure carbon dioxide is then pumped back into the dome, ready for the battery to be charged again.




Sounds like a Perpetual Motion Machine


----------



## GURPS

‘You Will Own Nothing, And Like It’ — The Real ‘Clean Energy’ Future​

“Mining has been called the ‘blind spot’ of the green energy transition,” Yeh writes. “On land, it has been associated with biodiversity loss, overuse of water resources, tailings waste, labor, and geopolitical issues.”

The stuff also can be mined from the ocean, but more than 100 environmental groups are opposed to deep-sea mining and more than 653 marine science and policy experts from over 44 countries have called for a moratorium on it because of the harm it would cause.  


So, if raping the earth and ravaging the seas to get the minerals needed for “clean energy” are off the table, what’s left?

Ah, the global elites have the answer!

Just get everyone to give up ownership of their cars, cell phones, and other stuff that needs power to operate. If we all shared the stuff, we’d need less of it.

“More sharing can reduce ownership of idle equipment and thus material usage,” Yeh says.

Other leftists have been singing the same song. Late last year, a transport minister in the United Kingdom declared that we had to move away from “20th-century thinking centered around private vehicle ownership and towards greater flexibility, with personal choice and low carbon shared transport.”

Of course, getting people to give up their cars for the “good of the planet” won’t be easy.

And so, “to enable a broader transition from ownership to usership, the way we design things and systems need to change too,” the article says. “Introducing more of these circular models requires _significant effort and changes to our current way of life._” (Emphasis added.)

(We are quite certain that the sharing part would apply only to the _hoi polloi_, not the elites who populate organizations like World Economic Forum.)

We can’t be the only ones who read things such as this and wonder _What. Is. The. Bloody. Point??_

Even if the left’s “clean energy” vision were to become a reality, the impact on global temperatures would be negligible, if there was any impact at all.


----------



## SamSpade

GURPS said:


> The Battery That Will Make Fossil Fuels & Nuclear Power A Thing Of The Past​



I'm a bit skeptical, inasmuch as if this thing works as well as it claims, it is THE perfect CO2 scrubber for existing fossil fuel power plants while adding a beneficial side effect.


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## SamSpade

Ok, read a few more articles - and I walk back a bit. The CO2 used is a closed system - it doesn't consume or release CO2 anymore than a lead battery consumes or releases lead. 

So I misunderstood the use of CO2, which really doesn't add or subtract anything from the environment significantly. It's not a scrubber. And it clearly needs an exterior source of energy to compress the CO2 and later, to heat it back up. It is interesting, but no more than simply using excess energy at a plant to store compressed - well, anything, hydrogen, AIR, whatever.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Air conditioning is a climate disaster and Bill Gates is investing in this startup to fix it​

Air conditioning has the potential to keep people cool as climate change keeps making the planet hotter. At the same time, conventional air conditioning technology uses a lot of energy, meaning it’s contributing to climate change — and will have a bigger effect as more people need air conditioners to stay comfortable or even survive.

Currently, air conditioning is responsible for nearly 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to an analysis by scientists from the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center released in March. Those emissions are expected to get worse as more people install air conditioners, especially in India, China, and Indonesia, according to a joint statement from the NREL and Xerox PARC.

“It’s a good and a bad thing,” Jason Woods, an NREL senior research engineer and co-author of the new study, said in a statement about the research. “It’s good that more people can benefit from improved comfort, but it also means a lot more energy is used, and carbon emissions are increased.”

Conventional air conditioner technology uses a vapor compression cycle to cool the air. In that system, refrigerant is used to do the cooling.


----------



## GURPS

World Economic Forum calls to reduce private vehicles by eliminating 'ownership'​
"More sharing can reduce ownership of idle equipment and thus material usage," the group argued, pointing to statistics that show the average vehicle in England is driven "just 4% of the time."

Vehicle sharing initiatives like "Getaround" and "BlueSG" have become increasingly popular around the world and are key in reducing the number of cars and electronics needed globally, the forum argued. 

Though it did not address how car sharing could be more effectively utilized in a nation like the U.S. where cars are heavily relied on and public transportation is lacking in both rural and urban communities.

The report also pointed out that most people around the world already have personal phones or computers but 39% of global workers are also provided laptops and mobile phones.


----------



## GURPS

Rigging the War on Fossil Fuels​

In a July 2019 interview with _The_ _Washington Post_, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s chief-of-staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, acknowledged that the Green New Deal had not been devised to protect the environment, but rather, to inject discredited socialist “solutions” into the American economy. “The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” he said with great candor, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all. Do you guys [reporters] think of it as a climate thing? Because we really think of it as a ‘how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy’ thing.” We don’t say this, but rather conceal it, because if we did we would have to explain why the epic failures of socialist regimes in our lifetimes should not be a red flag against repeating them.

The Shadow Party behind this campaign to replace America’s incomparably productive free market economy with a socialist travesty has been made possible by the failure of the Internal Revenue Service to enforce its own guidelines, which allow taxpayer subsidies only to non-partisan, non-political, charitable organizations. Beginning with its vast subsidies to universities that have been purged of conservatives and transformed into indoctrination and recruitment centers for the radical left and the Democrat Party, the I.R.S. has enabled the formation of the socialist juggernaut behind the Green New Deal and its war on fossil fuels. In its newest version, it is  a war, by the way, which stops at the water’s edge, since Russian pipelines, and increased oil production by the totalitarian regimes in Saudi Arabia and Venezuela*,* are apparently okay with the Biden administration.

The foundations of this Shadow Party of tax-exempt institutions were laid in the 1970s, when the political left launched a campaign inspired by the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci to build a revolution based on seizing control of the “means of cultural production” – universities, schools, philanthropic foundations and the like. A key component of 501(c)(3) nonprofit entities dedicated to promoting the Green New Deal and its leftwing agendas are the vast majority of colleges and universities across the United States. As the American Association of Universities explains, nearly all public and private institutions of higher learning “are tax-exempt entities as defined by I.R.C. Section 501(c)(3) because of their educational purposes — purposes that the federal government has long recognized as fundamental to fostering the productive and civic capacity of its citizens — and/or the fact that they are state governmental entities.”

So much for the boilerplate, not a word of which is true any longer. The movement to purge universities of conservative faculty and influences has been so successful over the last 50 years that universities have*,* and as far as social theory and policy are concerned have ceased to be educational institutions in any reasonable sense of the word. The total dominance of leftist narratives and values in virtually every academic discipline is as self-evident as it is disgraceful and dangerous. How this took place is the subject of a book by one of the authors of this article – _The Professors_ (2014) by David Horowitz. A 2020 study of more than 12,300 professors by the National Association of Scholars found that professors nationwide donate money to Democratic political figures rather than Republicans by a ratio of 95 to 1. Even Moscow University probably has more diversity than that. In a 2018 study of nearly 8,700 tenure-track, Ph.D.-holding professors from 49 of America’s top 66 liberal arts colleges as ranked by _U.S. News_, the professors were 12.7 times more likely to self-identify as Democrats than as Republicans. In the field of environmental science specifically, the ratio of Democrats-to-Republicans was greater than 25 to 1. There is no way to describe this intellectual monolith than as a partisan political training and research center.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Inflation Reduction Act a Euphemism for Bigger Government, Higher Prices
					

The so-called Inflation Reduction Act would impose tax hikes, manipulative federal subsidies, and price controls on every American family.




					www.dailysignal.com
				





The reported overall spending for the climate and clean energy provisions is $369 billion. Here are just some of the bill’s lowlights:

It spends $9 billion for promoting electric appliances and energy-efficient retrofits. 

Do you like your natural gas stove or fireplace? Well, this bill is part of a broader effort to make these appliances relics of the past. If that seems like an exaggeration, there are already left-wing cities and states banning new hookups for natural gas appliances.

It creates tax credits to have homes run on “clean energy” and for the purchase of “clean vehicles.” 

*If American consumers demand those types of products and features, that’s one thing. The creation of this tax credit is a recognition that Americans don’t desire the products and, therefore, Washington politicians must induce Americans to “do the right thing.”

An important point to bear in mind: All of this new spending will come on top of the federal government’s voluminous regulations.  Americans will be getting the worst of both worlds.  There was already the Biden regulatory avalanche, and now this proposed bill would force taxpayers to use their hard-earned money to subsidize wasteful spending.

For example, as Washington politicians spend money to try to induce people to buy the appliances the government wants you to buy, there are currently proposed new conservation regulatory standards at the Department of Energy for commercial water heating equipment; consumer furnaces; walk-in coolers and freezers; commercial refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers; packaged terminal air conditioners and packaged terminal heat pumps; dehumidifiers; dedicated-purpose pool pump motors; general service fluorescent lamps; clothes dryers; and distribution transformers.*


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## Kinnakeet

GURPS said:


>



Look at those people Evolution and time has passed them by


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## GURPS

“GREEN” IS UNSUSTAINABLE​
The administration’s “green” energy proposals, like those that have been adopted in Europe, are leading this country toward an economic, social and strategic disaster. It is hard to think of any set of policies, adopted by any government at any moment in history, that rival our “green” mania for sheer destructiveness. Although, that said, Sri Lanka’s brief commitment to “sustainability” comes to mind.


Speaking of sustainability, this piece by Stuart Gottlieb in today’s Wall Street Journal, titled “Biden’s Climate Plans Are Unsustainable,” makes some great points.



> [T]he greatest threat to [environmental] progress—particularly in the critical realm of climate—comes not from such emerging mega-emitters as China and India, although they certainly play a role. It comes from the energy and climate initiatives promoted by the Biden White House, which are themselves unsustainable—so aggressive and unduly optimistic that they risk a backlash that would set back the cause of environmental sustainability for generations.



This is true for at least three reasons.



> To begin with, the agenda is economically unsustainable. According to the federal Energy Information Administration, global demand for energy will rise nearly 50% by 2050, with fossil fuels still accounting for roughly 75% of world supply. Though many Democrats insist this simply proves the urgency of making the transition, there are no economic models showing how that could occur without causing massive harm to the underlying economy. A McKinsey & Co. report shows that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 would require nearly $6 trillion in new spending globally every year for the next 30 years—roughly equal to one-third of all tax receipts by every government in the world.



My experience with energy-related studies by companies like McKinsey causes me to think that this estimate is probably low by a factor of several times, if not orders of magnitude. But McKinsey’s numbers are bad enough. It simply isn’t going to happen.



> The current agenda is also geostrategically unsustainable. It is increasingly clear that both Russia and China view aggressive Western climate commitments as an opportunity to increase their power and influence. We have already witnessed what Europe’s reliance on Russian natural gas has wrought: unacceptable dependence on one of the world’s vilest governments.
> Meanwhile, China is seeking to dominate Western markets for renewables (wind turbines, solar panels, lithium batteries) while enjoying its own right as a developing country, conferred by international conventions, to keep burning cheap fossil fuels as it powers its rise toward passing the U.S. as the world’s largest economy.



Is the Biden administration deliberately trying to sell us out? Is Joe Biden a paid agent of the Communist Chinese, or perhaps of the Putin regime? I have always assumed that the answer is no, but the troubling question is, if Biden were a Chinese agent, what, exactly, would he be doing differently? The answer: nothing.



> And the current agenda is politically unsustainable. Without committed action by the Group of Seven nations—the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.K.—there is little hope for real climate progress in coming decades. Yet these are also the world’s leading democracies, accountable to their publics. There is a real danger that voters in these countries will rebel against climate policies that ramp up energy prices, hinder economic growth and even lead to rationing and blackouts.


----------



## GURPS

It’s Not About Climate, It’s About Control​One comment on Jenner’s Instagram post hit the nail on the head: “Why do I limit my meat consumption and use paper straws while the 1% gets to pump tons of carbon into the atmosphere for a day trip to Palm Springs?” Substitute “Wilmington” or “Rehoboth Beach” for Palm Springs, and you have Joe Biden’s behavior—and example—in a nutshell.

In many respects, the answer is as simple as it is infuriating: Lefty politicians, just like lefty celebrities, think they’re better than you, and don’t have to follow the rules they set out for others. They want others (meaning you) to pay the price for their climate “sins.” And climate groups have shown themselves willing to play along, and give Biden a pass for his hypocritical example, so long as he enacts the policies they want.

But the fact that the left has little interest in practicing what it preaches shows that the “climate crisis” isn’t really about climate; it’s a grab for power. As Rahm Emanuel famously noted, “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.” That’s why the left dubs anything and everything a “crisis”—because to them, “crisis” functions as code for “government power grab.” 










						Biden Is A More Problematic Climate Hypocrite Than Kylie Jenner
					

Biden’s actions show he’s perfectly content to let working families suffer, while indulging in his own desire for luxury and comfort.




					thefederalist.com


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## GURPS

Climate Activists Are Using Kids To Wage A Legal War Over Fossil Fuels​








The endless “catastrophizing,” as it has been described by Alex Epstein, who outlines the years of hysteria in his book “Fossil Future,” has left today’s young people crippled with “climate anxiety.”

In December, The Lancet published a study from a team of nine researchers including psychologists, environmental scientists, and psychiatrists who surveyed 10,000 people aged 16 to 25 about their anxiety related to climate change and their governments’ response. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed across 10 different countries reported feeling the “future is frightening.” Researchers reported nearly half of all participants said their “feelings about climate change negatively affected their daily life and functioning.”

The study also showed fewer and fewer young people willing to reproduce, reportedly out of fear of climate change. Nearly 40 percent reported that their anxiety about the climate made them “hesitant to have children.” According to a 2020 survey from the Morning Consult, 1 in 4 adults cited climate change as their reason to remain childless. While children are often depicted as environmental burdens, including by current Bureau of Land Management Director Tracy Stone-Manning in her graduate thesis, population decline itself is a major long-term problem facing future generations.

But now, today’s kids inundated with incessant catastrophizing by reporters who themselves grew up with prophetic warnings about the “climate crisis” are launching lawsuits.

In February, the first youth-led lawsuit over climate change will go to trial as 16 plaintiffs sue Montana over the government’s promotion of fossil fuels. The Oregon-based environmental legal group “Our Children’s Trust” co-opted Montana teens in _Held v. State of Montana _to strong-arm Helena into eliminating fossil fuels as a centerpiece of the state’s energy policy.

Coverage of the lawsuit has been predictable cheerleading with a spotlight on the anxieties young people face from weather. An April write-up from the Guardian headlined “Fossil fuels v. our future: young Montanans wage historic climate fight,” was published under the “Climate crimes” section of the British paper.

“The 16 young people, who were between the ages of two and 18 when they filed the lawsiut in March 2020, have already felt the impacts of climate change,” the Guardian reported. “As these environmental consequences mount, young people have emerged as a leading force in the climate activism movement.”

Their lawsuit seeks to undermine Montana’s lucrative fossil fuel industry, asserting that emissions violate the right to a clean environment guaranteed in the state constitution. According to the Energy Information Administration, Montana is home to the “largest estimated recoverable coal reserves among the states” and provides 30 percent of the nation’s coal. Even with six operating coal mines and four private coal plants, the state is also already a top 10 state when it comes to the use of renewables. Fifty-two percent of the electricity provided by Montana’s power grid was generated by renewable energy.

This summer, however, the Montana attorney general’s office lost a motion before the state Supreme Court to dismiss the case now headed to trial this winter.

“Our Children’s Trust is a special interest group that is exploiting well-intentioned kids — including a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old — to achieve its goal of shutting down responsible energy development in Montana,” said Kyler Nerison, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, in a statement to The Federalist. “Unable to implement their policies through our normal processes of representative government, these out-of-state climate activists are trying to use Montana’s liberal courts to impose their authoritarian climate agenda on us.”


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## GURPS

Why We Lost Trust in the Expert Class​

For years, European policymakers had assured the world that the relatively rapid “transition” to “green” energy was the world’s preordained future — regardless of the costs.

Accordingly, many European Union governments followed the advice of green experts. They eagerly shut down coal, natural gas, and nuclear power plants to transition immediately to “renewable energy.”

Most citizens were afraid to object that in cloudy, cold Germany solar panels were not viable methods of electrical generation — especially in comparison to the country’s vast coal deposits and its large, model nuclear power industry.

As a result, German government officials warn that this winter, in 19th-century fashion, families will have to burn wood — the dirtiest of modern fuels — to endure the cold. And there is further talk of “warm rooms,” where like pre-civilizational tribal people, the elderly will bunch together within a designated heated room to keep alive.

Sri Lanka may be the first modern nation to adopt deliberate policies that have led to mass hunger and bankruptcy. The government, for a variety of reasons, listened to foreign advocates of back-to-nature organic farming, specifically outright abandonment of highly effective synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.

The result was endemic crop failure. Cash crops for export failed. Widespread hunger followed. Without foreign exchange, it became impossible to import key staples like food and fuel.

Sri Lanka once had a per capita income twice that of nearby India. Now it cannot feed or fuel itself.

Unfortunately, its incompetent government trusted radical environmental advisors, many of them foreign experts. Sri Lanka believed it could become the woke darling of the “Environmental, Social, Governance” movement, and in that way draw in unlimited Western woke investment.

Instead, it has embraced a policy of national suicide.


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## GURPS

'Dirty ol' coal' is making a comeback and consumption is expected to return to 2013′s record levels​




Coal prices are soaring and global coal consumption is expected to return to record levels reached almost 10 years ago as the global energy supply crunch continues. 
While investors in coal stocks are having a field day thanks to high coal prices, curbs on carbon emissions are taking a backseat as markets and governments scramble to stock up on traditional energy supply amid bottlenecks caused by the Ukraine war, analysts say.
Worse, slowing investments in new coal-powered energy facilities have tightened the supply of coal even further, Shaw and Partners senior analyst Peter O'Connor told "Squawk Box Asia" on Friday.


----------



## GURPS

Lights out, cold showers in Europe​
We still see news coverage coming out of Europe issuing “warnings” about a possible energy crisis, spurred in part by the removal of Russian oil and natural gas from the European market. Concerns are being raised in the United States that the same thing “might” happen here. But this story is much bigger than just the Biden energy crisis. And these aren’t hypothetical discussions about power grid issues that are complex and difficult to explain. The reality is that it’s already upon us. It’s happening right now. In several European countries, the lights are already being dimmed if not extinguished in places. People are being asked to take cold showers or, in some places, not having any choice because there is no hot water. And it’s all being done in an effort to squirrel away any amount of energy they can before winter arrives. The President of the European Commission warned people this week that the time to start conserving and building stockpiles of oil and natural gas was yesterday. And it’s not just going to be Germany and Italy that are suffering. It will be the entire continent. (Associated Press)





> The stakes are high. If Russia severs the supplies of gas it has already drastically reduced, authorities fear Europe risks becoming a colder, darker and less-productive place this winter. It’s imperative to economize gas now so it can be squirreled away for burning later in homes, factories and power plants, officials say.
> “Europe needs to be ready,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “To make it through the winter, assuming that there is a full disruption of Russian gas, we need to save gas to fill our gas storages faster. And to do so, we have to reduce our gas consumption. I know that this is a big ask for the whole of the European Union, but it is necessary to protect us.”
> And although Europe is scrambling to get energy from elsewhere, any difficulties this winter could be a harbinger of worse to come if Russian gas supplies are completely severed and stay off through 2023, said France’s minister overseeing energy, Agnès Pannier-Runacher.


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## GURPS

The Unintended Consequences of Declaring 'Climate Emergency'​
Why not aluminum can replacement of plastic? Aluminum is sourced from bauxite mines while coating nearby cities in toxic dust. Those airborne particles lead to everything from farmland destruction to cancer in those who breathe in the dust. Aluminum can production also generates twice as much carbon dioxide as a plastic bottle and is a significant source of global perfluorocarbon (PFC) emissions, which have 9,200 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. 

Unlike glass, aluminum, and plastic, boxed water cartons are nearly impossible to recycle because they are made from glued layers of plastic, aluminum foil, and paper. A study from the Danish Environmental Protection Agency found that it is better for the planet to incinerate cartons than to recycle them. 

It’s not just bottle alternatives. A report in the New York Times found that the local governments’ rush to switch out plastic bags for cotton totes is yet another unmitigated and unintended environmental disaster caused by a rush to judgment. Emissions from producing one cotton tote are 20,000 times greater than the emission production of a single plastic bag.


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## GURPS

Senate Climate Bill Incentivizes Electric Cars We Can't Afford With Subsidies We Can't Use​
Passing this provision of the climate bill only makes sense if you have no knowledge of what the electric vehicle industry is currently going through — which is about par for the course when it comes to Congress taking action on just about anything. One of the best ideas in the EV provision is the focus on buying “America first,” so we aren’t propping up problematic regimes when we are buying the vehicles and components of said vehicles.

Just one problem, though: _None of the cars on the market seem to fall into that category_.



> In order to receive a tax credit for buying an electric vehicle, the budget deal Democrats are working to enact requires battery minerals to be at least 40 percent sourced from North America or a U.S. trading partnerstarting in 2024 and rising from there. And by 2029, battery components would have to be 100 percent made in North America.
> Perhaps the most difficult bar, though, considering China’s dominance when it comes to lithium-ion batteries and other minerals and componentsthe vehicles need, is the deal’s stipulation that the credit won’t apply to a vehicle that has any battery components made from an “entity of concern,” such as China, by 2024, and no critical minerals from those sources by 2025.
> Not a single electric vehicle currently on the market would qualify. It’s not surprising, considering that the United States accounts for just 8 percent of global lithium-ion battery production, compared to China’s 76 percent.
> In some cases, companies may not even be able to trace the source of minerals or subcomponents of their own products.



Absolutely incredible.


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## GURPS

The Democrats' New Inflation Bill Includes Tax Credits for Electric Vehicles That Don't Exist​

Not that any of this was news: Last week, Reuters reported that multiple automakers were complaining about the feasibility of meeting the bill's timeline. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D–Mich.), whose state includes the U.S. auto capital of Detroit, called it "a very cumbersome, unworkable credit once the full restrictions set in."

Last year, an earlier version of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill included a provision that would increase the EV tax credit by $5,000 if the vehicle and battery were both manufactured in a unionized U.S. factory. At the time, only the Chevrolet Bolt qualified for the extra incentive. Now, not one single vehicle qualifies for the full rebate.

_Politico_ suggests that the government can simply get around these strictures by issuing waivers, much as it has done for steel tariffs. In practice, steel waivers incentivized cronyism, with Washington bureaucrats picking and choosing which companies received waivers and which did not. And if a law has problems, surely the best place to deal with that is in the text of the legislation itself, not an unstated hope that the administrative state will fix the issues when they arise.


----------



## glhs837

GURPS said:


> The Democrats' New Inflation Bill Includes Tax Credits for Electric Vehicles That Don't Exist​
> 
> Not that any of this was news: Last week, Reuters reported that multiple automakers were complaining about the feasibility of meeting the bill's timeline. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D–Mich.), whose state includes the U.S. auto capital of Detroit, called it "a very cumbersome, unworkable credit once the full restrictions set in."
> 
> Last year, an earlier version of President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill included a provision that would increase the EV tax credit by $5,000 if the vehicle and battery were both manufactured in a unionized U.S. factory. At the time, only the Chevrolet Bolt qualified for the extra incentive. Now, not one single vehicle qualifies for the full rebate.
> 
> _Politico_ suggests that the government can simply get around these strictures by issuing waivers, much as it has done for steel tariffs. In practice, steel waivers incentivized cronyism, with Washington bureaucrats picking and choosing which companies received waivers and which did not. And if a law has problems, surely the best place to deal with that is in the text of the legislation itself, not an unstated hope that the administrative state will fix the issues when they arise.



So the details that exclude virtually anyone are a feature to allow the favored ones to get waivers.


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## GURPS

Researchers Suggest Americans Should Work Less To Help The Climate​
Academics and economists say working only four days a week benefits the climate because people will consume 20% less energy and produce a 12.1% lower ecological footprint by reducing their day-to-day activities, according to The Washington Post. They use European work standards as an example for Americans to follow, and cite COVID-19 lockdowns as an example of people benefiting the environment by not working.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst study predicts that if work hours were reduced by 10%, ecological footprint, carbon footprint and carbon dioxide emissions could drop by 12.1%, 14.6% and 4.2% respectively. This is because an extra day off work will give people more free time to adopt “environmentally friendly” habits and “get used” to a lower consumption lifestyle, suggested Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in an interview with The Washington Post.

“The one thing we do know from lots of years of data and various papers and so forth is that the countries with short hours of work tend to be the ones with low emissions, and work time reductions tend to be associated with emission reduction,” added Boston College economist and sociologist Juliet Schor. She credited the need to travel less for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.


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## GURPS

Offsetting guilt: Eco-minded descendants of billionaire oil barons are PAYING hundreds of activists $25,000-a-year to protest around the world because they feel 'a moral obligation to put genie back in the bottle'​

Three American oil scions have been bankrolling mobs of eco-zealots who have terrorized the world by slashing tires, blocking traffic and attacking firms.

Aileen Getty, Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case, who are heirs to their families' huge fortunes, are paying the salaries for thugs through their non-profits in an apparent bid to offset their relatives' legacies.

Getty, whose grandfather created Getty Oil, has so far splashed out $1million through her California-based Climate Emergency Fund.

Lambert and Case, who are both members of the Rockefeller dynasty that founded Standard Oil in 1870, have forked out $30million on The Equation Campaign.


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## GURPS

Malthusian Malarkey​
In essence, Malthus was a techno-pessimist who radically underestimated humanity’s potential for innovation. He contended it was better to prevent the overpopulation catastrophe proactively, calling for a combination of increased birth control and “permitting” higher mortality rates – a euphemism that could only have been penned from the comfort of a university office. Of course, once one decides the world has too many people, all manner of cruel solutions suddenly become justifiable, especially if the expendable ones live in a far-off land and don’t look like you. It takes no special knowledge of history to connect the dots from the Malthusian school of thought to some of the cruelest and most regrettable episodes of our collective past.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch...a0f-ebd1-433c-bda7-b5046aef6714_1194x597.jpeg
Alarmingly, environmentalist opposition to nuclear was, from the start, _*precisely because*_ it makes cheap and clean energy abundance possible. In 1968, a book called _Population Bomb_ was published. The book, authored by Paul Ehrlich, was written at the request of then-President of the Sierra Club, David Brower. In a later interview (surfaced by Emmet Penney, cited below), Ehrlich pointedly memorialized this position by stating: “_In fact, *giving society cheap abundant energy at this point* would be the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun_.”

The mid-twentieth century represented a time in which concerns over overpopulation were very much in the Overton window. In his excellent recent essay published in _American Affairs_ titled _Who Killed Nuclear Energy and How to Revive It_, Emmet Penney forces the reader to confront this uncomfortable reality (emphasis added throughout):



> “_*The postwar American environmental movement began as an outgrowth from the eugenics movement*. This has been largely forgotten, leading one historian to write, “Although one can hardly pick up an environmental book from the late 1960s and early 1970s that does not warn about *overpopulation*, it is surprisingly easy to find a history of the movement that barely mentions overpopulation. *Eugenics took root in late nineteenth-century America* with the formation of groups like the Immigration Restriction League and the Eugenics Records Office. Its boosters included historic figures like Theodore Roosevelt and lesser-knowns like Madison Grant, whose bestselling book _The Passing of the Great Race_ was referred to by Hitler as his ‘Bible,’ and Henry Fairfield Osborn, then president of the Natural History Museum. Both Grant and Osborn *connected poor breeding with environmental degradation*._”


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## GURPS

Leonardo DiCaprio funneled grants through dark money group to fund climate nuisance lawsuits, emails show​

Leonardo DiCaprio's non-profit foundation awarded grants to a dark money group which, in turn, funneled money to a law firm spearheading climate nuisance lawsuits nationwide, according to emails reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

Correspondence between Dan Emmett, a major philanthropist, and Ann Carlson — a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) climate professor — in 2017 revealed that the two worked with law firm Sher Edling to raise money for its efforts to sue oil companies over alleged climate change deception on behalf of state and local governments, according to the emails obtained by watchdog group Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO) and shared with Fox News Digital.

In their emails, Emmett and Carlson discuss how Chuck Savitt, Sher Edling's director of strategic client relationships, had sought Emmett's support and had already received support from Terry Tamminen in his role as the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation's CEO, a title he held between 2016 and 2019. When the emails were exchanged, Carlson, who is now a senior Biden administration official, served as co-director of the UCLA Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment, the advisory board which Emmett still chairs.

"Chuck Savitt who is heading this new organization behind the lawsuits has been seeking our support," Emmett wrote to Carlson on July 22, 2017. "Terry Tamminen in his new role with the DiCaprio Foundation has been a key supporter."


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## PJay




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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Australian Bank To End Loans For New Gas Cars, Pushes Electric Vehicles Instead​

“By ceasing car loans for new fossil fuel vehicles, we are sending a signal to the Australian market about the rapid acceleration in the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles we expect to see in the next few years,” Bank Australia Chief Impact Officer Sasha Courville said at a recent summit, according to a press release. “We’ve chosen 2025 because the change to electric vehicles needs to happen quickly, and we believe it can with the right supporting policies in place to bring a greater range of more affordable electric vehicles to Australia.”

Noting that many consumers are not yet able to afford an electric car, Courville specified that Bank Australia would “continue to offer loans for second hand fossil fuel vehicles until there is a viable and thriving market for electric vehicles.”

Roughly 7% of Australia’s total energy consumption came from renewable sources as of 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Beyond renewables, oil, coal, and gas respectively account for 37%, 28%, and 27% of energy use. Australian policymakers, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have endorsed higher rates of electric vehicle adoption, with the Labor Party vowing earlier this year to construct a national network of charging stations.


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## GURPS

Energy Sec. Granholm: Families Should Use EV Tax Credits, Weatherize Their Homes, Finance Solar Panels To Cope With Inflation​

“So if you are low income, you can get your home entirely weatherized through the expansion from the bipartisan infrastructure law,” she continued. “If you want heat pumps, insulation, new windows, that is covered. If you are moderate income, today, you can get 30% off the price of solar panels. Those solar panels can be financed, so you don’t have to have the big outlay up front.”

“When they’re financed, they’re financed in a way that reduces your energy bill even though you have solar panels, with this 30% off. It’s a significant incentive. Same thing if you don’t qualify for the weatherization program, you will be able to, starting next year, get rebates on the appliances and equipment that will help you reduce your monthly energy bill by up to 30%. This is all about reducing costs for people.”


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## Sneakers

So totally out of touch and unrealistic.


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## Bare-ya-cuda

GURPS said:


> Australian Bank To End Loans For New Gas Cars, Pushes Electric Vehicles Instead​
> 
> “By ceasing car loans for new fossil fuel vehicles, we are sending a signal to the Australian market about the rapid acceleration in the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles we expect to see in the next few years,” Bank Australia Chief Impact Officer Sasha Courville said at a recent summit, according to a press release. “We’ve chosen 2025 because the change to electric vehicles needs to happen quickly, and we believe it can with the right supporting policies in place to bring a greater range of more affordable electric vehicles to Australia.”
> 
> Noting that many consumers are not yet able to afford an electric car, Courville specified that Bank Australia would “continue to offer loans for second hand fossil fuel vehicles until there is a viable and thriving market for electric vehicles.”
> 
> Roughly 7% of Australia’s total energy consumption came from renewable sources as of 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Beyond renewables, oil, coal, and gas respectively account for 37%, 28%, and 27% of energy use. Australian policymakers, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, have endorsed higher rates of electric vehicle adoption, with the Labor Party vowing earlier this year to construct a national network of charging stations.


It really wouldn’t surprise me one bit if lending institutions started this in the U.S.


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## GURPS

The Biggest Obstacle To Building Offshore Wind Farms Is Government​

But the biggest impediment to the federal government's attempted development of offshore wind is, it turns out, the federal government.

According to DOE data published this month, the U.S. currently has offshore wind projects capable of generating 42 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Offshore wind projects currently under construction will eventually provide another 932 MW of electricity when fully operational. (For comparison's sake, an average-sized nuclear power plant can generate around 1 gigawatt of electricity—equal to 1,000 megawatts.)

But another 18,581 MW of potential offshore wind power are tied up in permitting battles. According to the DOE's data, that means a developer has signed a lease for the designated area but is still trying to complete environmental impact statements required by the federal government and the appropriate state authorities (for projects based in state-controlled waters).






Department of Energy (https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/offshore_wind_market_report_2022.pdf)As with housing and other types of infrastructure projects, the permitting process provides an opportunity for various parties to slow or even stop construction. Even though the Biden administration has said it intends to speed up the federal permitting process for offshore wind projects, it's questionable whether that is happening. In July, for example, the DOE's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management canceled two potential wind energy developments off the coast of Long Island due to concerns that included "visibility from nearby beaches."


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## GURPS

19 State AGs Warn BlackRock to Stop Pushing Political Agenda​

Investigations and further legislative action may be next, state officials involved told The Epoch Times.

“Our state is heavily invested in organizations like BlackRock, and those organizations owe a fiduciary duty to the state of Montana to invest our money in the best way possible to earn returns,” Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said in a phone interview. “That doesn’t include pushing a liberal agenda.”

Saying that the company and its allies had failed to convince legislatures to back its ideas, Knudsen blasted what he argued was the company’s effort to impose “idealistic, green, utopian, progressive ideas” on Americans through economic pressure instead.

“I think companies like this are really teetering on the edge of being in violation of their fiduciary obligations,” added Knudsen, saying investigations and action by the legislature would be the next steps.


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## GURPS

Boston seeks to ban fossil fuels in new buildings​

That legislation, which is meant to bring the state closer to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, calls for a pilot project allowing 10 Massachusetts cities and towns to require new building projects be all-electric, with the exception of life sciences labs and health care facilities.

Wu said the city will file a home rule petition with the state Legislature to join the pilot.

“Boston must lead by taking every possible step for climate action,” she said in a statement. “Boston’s participation will help deliver healthy, energy efficient spaces that save our residents and businesses on utilities costs and create local green jobs that will fuel our economy for decades.”

Wu’s office said natural gas, oil and other fossil fuels used in buildings represent more than one-third of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions.

New York, Washington, D.C. and Seattle are among the major U.S. cities that have enacted similar bans, The Boston Globe reports.


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## GURPS

The U.S. Is Asking the USPS to Please Stop Buying Gas-Powered Mail Trucks​
The AGs are now asking the USPS to redo its analysis of the update plan. But this time, the coalition of states says the USPS should pay “greater attention to environmental justice and addressing the climate crisis.”

In April, the USPS was sued by 16 U.S. states and four environmental groups along with the United Auto Workers Union for awarding Oshkosh Defense a contract worth $2.98 billion. The lawsuit argues the contract used an illegal environmental analysis and was rushed in order to give Oshkosh priority. Reuters notes the lawsuit went as far as claiming a complete environmental review was not actually finished for the USPS-Oshkosh deal.

The Attorney General of California Rob Bonta says the Oshkosh contract relies too much on outdated technology. And after the lawsuit challenged the legality of the Oshkosh deal, the USPS said it would buy more EVs. As of last month, the USPS said it would buy at least 25,000 EVs in the initial order of 50,000 new delivery vehicles from Oshkosh — up from about 10,000. But the Oshkosh deal is for 165,000 new mail trucks, or NGDVs, over a ten-year period.

That gives the USPS plenty of time to ramp up the percentage of EVs included in follow-up orders. And now that the Biden administration is expected to give the USPS another $3 billion dollars specifically to buy EVs and expand its own charging network, there’s not much stopping the USPS from following through with a new eco-friendly fleet. Municipal fleets and mail trucks with fixed routes would easily benefit from EV technology.


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## GURPS

Doomsday climate disaster mongers Gore and Biden​

All this punctuated with fire and brimstone preaching by a washed-up, fat, moralizing failed politician. Script-writers in Hollywood and internet scammers could not think up a more fantastical fraud.

The only problem is when it comes time to cash all those checks Mr. Gore predicted.

2012 came and went. The sun still rises and sets.

2015. Birds still chirp when you open the windows.

In 2018, clean spring rains still bring healing fresh air.

2021, and the seas still ebb and flow pretty much as they have for all of recorded time.

The only thing going extinct these days are the predictions from Mr. Gore and his fellow ministers of doom. As the kids say: “Awkward!”

Luckily for Mr. Gore, however, he spent enough time as a politician to be immune from shame.

Meanwhile, things aren’t going so well for the rest of the purveyors of Mr. Gore’s dark religion.

President Biden got into the White House, and apparently nobody told him that the whole lunatic green “inconvenient truth” agenda was a scam designed to shake down industrial corporations and make people like Mr. Gore fabulously corpulent.


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## GURPS

Majority of new federal climate funds in Pennsylvania going to repave parking lots​

The USDA Rural Development program provides taxpayer money for all sorts of programs, from infrastructure to health care to environmental and economic concerns in the rural parts of America. In fiscal year 2022, it provided almost $1.5 billion for local projects.

Its latest announcement noted 16 projects in Pennsylvania, but the lion’s share of the funding will go to four parking lots in Bloomsburg.

“These 16 projects represent Pennsylvania’s diverse rural economy and will strengthen its resilience,” USDA State Director Bob Morgan said in a news release. “The Biden-Harris Administration has created a roadmap for how we can tackle the climate crisis and expand access to renewable energy infrastructure.”

That roadmap has a strong emphasis on cars.


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## GURPS

Electric vehicles won’t save us from climate change​


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## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> Electric vehicles won’t save us from climate change​


That's been said repeatedly for quite a while now.  Falling on deaf ears.


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## GURPS

For years, liberal states in New England opposed gas pipelines in the name of combatting climate change, yet now that ideological opposition is coming back to haunt them as the region faces a fuel shortage months before cold weather even starts.

The Department of Energy recently sent New England governors a letter begging them to increase fuel inventories through all legal measures ahead of winter. According to the data, fuel inventories in the region are running well below average. Now, the region is serving as a cautionary tale for all who seek to abandon fossil fuels.

“Years of policy choices to limit pipeline infrastructure means New England must rely more heavily on oil and gas reserves and imports,” Heritage Foundation’s Research Fellow at the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment Katie Tubb told The Daily Wire.










						Dems’ Manmade Energy Crisis Hits New England: Granholm Begs Governors To Increase Fuel Inventories | The Daily Wire
					






					www.dailywire.com


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## GURPS

‘Back To The Dark Ages’​

“Demand for firewood in Germany has risen so fast that there is none left to buy. You can’t get it. So desperate Germans are now cutting their own wood — scouring the forests like their ancestors for sources of heat,” Carlson described. “In Poland, families are standing in line for days to buy coal… Cars queued up outside of coal mines looking for fuel.”

Various European countries have begun introducing quotas to conserve energy ahead of the winter months. Spain’s legislature recently mandated that public air conditioning can be set no lower than 27 degrees Celsius — 80.6 degrees Fahrenheit — while stores and public buildings must turn off their lights by 10:00 pm.

Carlson also highlighted a warning former President Donald Trump delivered to German diplomats about their energy future at the United Nations four years ago. After Trump predicted that Germany would be “totally dependent” on Russian energy imports “if it does not immediately change course,” the German officials snickered.

“They’re not laughing anymore,” Carlson observed. “The Europeans have discovered that the real threat to human civilization is not global warming — it never was global warming. The real threat to people is global cooling — otherwise known as winter.”


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## GURPS




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## SamSpade

I've read many articles recently in lieu of the gas shortages around the world and felt especially in Europe - replacement of fossil fuels by green energy is many years off, and willing it to be so is a straight line to chaos. And this even mentioned by strong proponents of green energy.

It's just not here yet, and until we have a cleaner means of MAKING electricity, especially on the order of a world running on EVs - AND a completely different battery technology that doesn't depend on elements and ores hard to find on Earth - it's not going to happen.

Seems to me the best way to transition to green energy is not to rip off the band-aid, but to find ways to clean the dirty energy we're using.


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## GURPS

SamSpade said:


> Seems to me the best way to transition to green energy is not to rip off the band-aid, but to find ways to clean the dirty energy we're using.




AFAIK they have been cleaning up Coal Plants with filters / scrubbers .. 


The heating issue is going to be such a problem this winter with the Russian Gas Cut off ... Germany is looking to restart some coal plants


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## SamSpade

GURPS said:


> AFAIK they have been cleaning up Coal Plants with filters / scrubbers ..
> 
> 
> The heating issue is going to be such a problem this winter with the Russian Gas Cut off ... Germany is looking to restart some coal plants


I haven't seen enough - support - in the press for coal plant scrubbers. I do think they are easily the best short term solution.

Germany is the country that will most suffer from this - I've already seen that Berlin is mostly dark at night, conserving energy - and it's still August (barely). They bragged so much about transitions to green energy, but still getting gas from Russia - and in the midst of getting a SECOND pipeline completed just prior to the war.

Speaking of which - I have to stop reading Russian forums. They're driving me crazy. I expected to hear how corrupt Ukraine is, and how everything the Western press says is all lies. I think just a while back though was the admonition that NATO has become a source of war and warmongering and how they provoked all of this. Really? 6-7 MONTHS of obliterating Ukraine, in a fashion reminiscent of the remark in Vietnam about how they had to destroy a whole village to save it. Another was how they might have prevented the conflict had they not kept opening membership to nations closer and closer to Russia. HELLO? NATO was *formed* to prevent what's happening in Ukraine. And they PROVE NATO's case when they do it.


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## GURPS

THE WEST’S ENERGY DISASTER WORSENS​
There is no excuse for advanced economies to experience a shortage of electricity, or of energy generally. The world has more than ample supplies of fossil fuels. And, if you buy the global warming hype, nuclear energy is the obvious alternative, although that implies universal use of electric vehicles that are devastating to the environment.

Nevertheless, an electricity crisis is upon us. From the U.K.: “Energy could be rationed ‘for years.'”



> Europe faces years of energy rationing without Russian gas, the boss of Shell has warned. Ben van Beurden said it was a “fantasy” to think that Europe’s energy crisis would be resolved soon and he warned that if Moscow were to cut off all supplies, life would be “very hard”.
> ***
> Gas prices for Britain for this winter closed on Friday at a record high of 827p per therm, more than 16 times higher than the average prices over the decade pre-crisis. Soaring wholesale gas and power prices have already fed through to record household bills, which are due to increase by 80 per cent to £3,549 a year from October.



The current crisis in Western Europe is due in part to the threatened cutoff of Russian natural gas. But countries like Britain and Germany are vulnerable to such a cutoff because they fecklessly failed to provide for their own energy self-sufficiency. That was an incredibly stupid policy, but one that is now being pursued by the Biden administration despite having the Western European example before it.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

Nanny State Test: Company Locks Thermostats of 22K Customers, Cites 'Energy Emergency'​
But for some 22,000 Xcel Energy customers in Colorado who wanted to be a little more comfortable on Tuesday when the thermometer was pegged at 90+ degrees, a bizarre message flashed on their thermostats indicating they’d lost the ability to control the temperature in their own homes.

According to KMGH-TV, “Energy Emergency” was part of the message that flashed on thermostats as temperatures skyrocketed and Xcel customers desperately tried to crank the A/C.

“Temperature locked temporarily during energy emergency. Due to a rare energy emergency that may affect the local energy grid, your temperature slider has been changed from 8:00 pm – 8:00 pm because you enrolled in a Community Energy Savings Program,” the full message read.


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## Kyle

All the more reason not to sign up for any of those electric company promotions.


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## GURPS

Experts blame green energy policies for Europe's full-scale energy crisis: 'A warning to the US'​
The energy crisis has forced consumers to cut back on power consumption, industrial production declines and energy rationing across the continent. The European Union Council (EU) scheduled an emergency meeting of EU energy ministers slated for next week in response to the market conditions.

"The skyrocketing electricity prices are now exposing, for different reasons, the limitations of our current electricity market design," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen remarked during a speech Monday. "It was developed under completely different circumstances and for completely different purposes. It is no longer fit for purpose."

Von der Leyen blamed the record price increases on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has upended global energy markets, but added that the crisis was evidence the bloc needed to transition further to green energy. Russia has throttled natural gas supplies to Europe in response to the EU's sanction packages introduced following the February invasion.


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## kwillia

California’s disastrous decisions is a warning to the rest of America.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

As America Self-Destructs With Green Energy, China Preps For War With Coal​

*When policymakers and strategists erroneously ascribe to others the same motives that they have themselves, it is called the Mirror-Image Fallacy. Opponents in warfare seek to deceive — the best deception plans are those that show the enemy what the enemy wants to believe. Mirror-Image Fallacy and deception plans can work hand-in-glove. *

If China was truly going all-in on EVs to reduce pollution and curb its greenhouse gas emissions, one would expect to see that in its energy consumption profile. Instead, we see something different. Yes, China has been adding wind, solar, and nuclear power, but coal use is also increasing. 

*From 2010 to 2020, the amount of electricity produced by coal in China rose by 57 percent to 4,775 terawatt hours. From 2010 to 2021 — the latest year available and 2020 having been depressed by the response to Covid-19 — American coal use to generate electricity declined by 52 percent to 899 terawatt hours. U.S. coal power peaked in 2007. China surpassed U.S. coal use in 2006 and never looked back. *


Today, China generates more than five times the electricity from coal than the U.S., with construction underway or planned in China to build the equivalent of more than the entire operating U.S. coal fleet. By this one action alone, China will wipe out all projected U.S. reductions in greenhouse gas emissions — and then some. 

*Last year, China consumed 54 percent of the world’s coal. This is the main reason that China emits more greenhouse gasses than all the world’s developed nations combined — which shouldn’t be a shock given that America, Western Europe, and Japan outsourced much of their manufacturing to China over the past 20 years. *


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## GURPS




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## Kyle

10 More Environmentally Friendly Alternatives To Using Electricity
					

Hey there, person! Are you still using electricity? We all know electricity makes the earth cry, which is why California recently banned it altogether. If you are one of the heartless few still using electricity to cool your home or charge your phone, here are 10 electricity alternatives. Try...




					babylonbee.com


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## LightRoasted

SamSpade said:


> I haven't seen enough - support - in the press for coal plant scrubbers. I do think they are easily the best short term solution.
> 
> Germany is the country that will most suffer from this - I've already seen that Berlin is mostly dark at night, conserving energy - and it's still August (barely). They bragged so much about transitions to green energy, but still getting gas from Russia - and in the midst of getting a SECOND pipeline completed just prior to the war.
> 
> Speaking of which - I have to stop reading Russian forums. They're driving me crazy. I expected to hear how corrupt Ukraine is, and how everything the Western press says is all lies. I think just a while back though was the admonition that NATO has become a source of war and warmongering and how they provoked all of this. Really? 6-7 MONTHS of obliterating Ukraine, in a fashion reminiscent of the remark in Vietnam about how they had to destroy a whole village to save it. Another was how they might have prevented the conflict had they not kept opening membership to nations closer and closer to Russia. HELLO? NATO was *formed* to prevent what's happening in Ukraine. And they PROVE NATO's case when they do it.


Hello? NATO was formed to counter WARSAW Pact nations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and other communist WARSAW Pact countries, NATO should have been relegated to the dustbin of history. And since the US is the major financial financier and supporter of NATO, might as well be called USNATO. NATO was formed to protect NATO members from conflicts with WARSAW Pact countries. Not as you describe. In addition, membership, though always open to new member States, was and is being forced on certain States closer and closer to Russian State border lines, or using severe persuasion for them to join. In reality, there is no good reason for any NATO expansion after 1989-91.

And, what is happening in Ukraine is a direct result of past US intervention.


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## SamSpade

LightRoasted said:


> Hello? NATO was formed to counter WARSAW Pact nations. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, and other communist WARSAW Pact countries, NATO should have been relegated to the dustbin of history.


Some of what we're saying is different only semantically - some, not so much. It is clear enough to me that Hungary in 56, Czechoslovakia in 68, the Berlin Wall, Ford's comments about Poles in 76 - the Warsaw Pact was not a bloc of nations in cooperation - they were nations all under the Soviet BOOT, and when they tried to get out from under it, the USSR sent in the tanks. Once Communism began to break - it shattered incredibly fast. The former Soviet bloc member nations COULD NOT LEAVE FAST ENOUGH. When given the opportunity - yes, they wanted to join NATO. They wanted insurance the tanks wouldn't be coming back.

We formed NATO to protect against the USSR and the Warsaw Pact - but minus their buffer states - Russia still remained.

And from many Russians I read - they'd like it all back again, starting with the former republics - Ukraine and Moldova and Georgia around the Black Sea. It's no secret they'd take the Baltic states back (but they're NATO now). NATO is still relevant as long as Russia continues to do as it does.

They may claim oh the West provoked this by offering NATO membership to Ukraine. This is like an abusive husband threatening his wife if she takes out a restraining order. Well that's EXACTLY why she WOULD do it. 

Russia's barbaric war in Ukraine has made the case to Europe - trust Russia at your peril. Germany has already doubled its defense spending.


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## GURPS

SamSpade said:


> Russia's barbaric war in Ukraine has made the case to Europe




all the fault of the west needlessly pushing the Baltic States to Join NATO ... to get Ukraine to get ride of their Nukes ... Putin was Promised, no we don't want Ukraine in NATO ... and sine then the West has been pushing to get Ukraine and other countries in NATO


Georgia was about to join NATO Putin invaded ... putting the region in to chaos - with borders in question, Georgia cannot join NATO


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## GURPS

Biden should end talk of NATO membership for Ukraine​

The pressing question for many in Washington’s foreign policy establishment is whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will attack Ukraine, and if he does attack, what actions should the U.S. and NATO take in response, given that the U.S. supports Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. However, a more fundamental question should be answered first: Why should the U.S. and NATO even consider extending an invitation to an unstable nation like Ukraine?

There is a common perception of Ukraine as a unified country at risk of invasion by an aggressive Russia, thus deserving Western protection. True, there is a genuine threat of an invasion by an aggressive Russia, as evidenced by the approximately 100,000 troops Mr. Putin has poised within striking distance of the Ukrainian border. But the picture within Ukraine is much more complex and should give the West pause before risking a potential war with Russia on behalf of Kyiv.

First, Ukraine is one of the most corrupt nations on earth, earning an abysmal ranking last year of being tied for 117th place globally. In fact, corruption was a driving cause of the 2014 rebellion in Kyiv that led to the collapse of the Ukrainian government and sparked the war, now in its eighth year. About one year from the beginning of the Maidan protests in Kyiv, Ernst & Young characterized Ukraine as one of the three most corrupt nations on earth.

Second, the biggest threat to Ukraine’s long-term viability as a nation isn’t the external threat of the Russian invasion but the internal threat represented by the de facto civil war currently dividing east and west Ukraine. The Kremlin supports separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine. Still, it is painfully clear the division between the east and the west of the country has been a source of friction for decades, not just since 2014.


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## SamSpade

GURPS said:


> Georgia was about to join NATO Putin invaded ... putting the region in to chaos - with borders in question, Georgia cannot join NATO


See, I can't follow this logic. This is like a homeowner calling the cops saying, help, there's a dozen gang members on lawn roaring their motorcycles all over my property and making threats all hours of the night. They've already taken my barn and my guest house.

And the cops say, no we can't help, that will make them MAD. You're on your own.

The Baltic states are especially vulnerable. They're more or less helpless, and there are few things that Russia would like more than more ocean port cities. I've been to the border at Estonia - and there's nothing - except three rich nations with nothing to stop Russia.


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## GURPS

Rolling Power Outages 'Now Possible' In California Amid Heat Wave​


----------



## SamSpade

GURPS said:


> Rolling Power Outages 'Now Possible' In California Amid Heat Wave​



And see, more and more California wants to "go green", replacing electrical production from fossil fuels to renewables and replacing cars with electric. I can understand SOME of this - I remember the horrible smog of LA back in the day, of the order that Chinese cities experience now, where the smog is so bad, your eyes burn and you don't dare go outside without a mask. We lucked out on the days we were there.

However, this isn't boding very well because if they can't handle the demand NOW, what will they do in ten years when EVERYONE will be charging their cars?


----------



## GURPS

SamSpade said:


> what will they do in ten years when EVERYONE will be charging their cars?




YOU will have to move closer to YOUR Job in live in one of these .. taking public transportation


----------



## Kyle

GURPS said:


> hoto:


Middle Class Detroit?


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## GURPS




----------



## LightRoasted

For your consideration ...



SamSpade said:


> They may claim oh the West provoked this by offering NATO membership to Ukraine.


But the West did interfere with Ukraine. First by installing a government of our choosing in 2014, with the goal of NATO expansion. Regardless, after the dissolution of the Soviet States and collapse of communism in the eastern blocks, there is no need for NATO, except, now, for use as an intimidation tool to access and exploit the resources of the region.


----------



## SamSpade

LightRoasted said:


> For your consideration ...
> 
> 
> But the West did interfere with Ukraine. First by installing a government of our choosing in 2014, with the goal of NATO expansion. Regardless, after the dissolution of the Soviet States and collapse of communism in the eastern blocks, there is no need for NATO, except, now, for use as an intimidation tool to access and exploit the resources of the region.


That works a lot better than open war. 

But I don't see Russia as powerless or not a threat. As has been all my life, the major threats to the United States are still Russia and China. There's zero doubt in my mind that they would conquer their neighbors if no one opposed them.

Perhaps the United States' most powerful weapon is our ability to place massive amounts of troops anywhere in the world at almost a moment's notice. Having NATO kind of helps that. That, plus a military alliance with the most powerful nations of Europe kind of keeps the likes of our adversaries in check.


----------



## GURPS

If that sounds a little familiar to you, join the club. It sounded familiar to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, too:



> Just two weeks to slow the spread? https://t.co/j3H2TZZnWI
> — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 7, 2022


----------



## GURPS

RETURN OF THE ICE AGE​To Europe, anyway. Years of horrible decisions by European leaders have come home to roost, as Europeans now worry about how to heat their homes this winter. Reliance on a geopolitical enemy for much of their energy turned out to be a mistake, as Russia has now shut off gas supplies. Who could have predicted it? Other than anyone with a modicum of common sense? Which Europe’s governing class has lacked for many years.
The continent’s leaders are panicking and preparing to ration energy:



> European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called for the implementation of “mandatory” energy rationing throughout the EU during peak hours in order to “flatten the curve” of demand amid the largely self-inflicted energy crisis befalling the bloc.



“Flatten the curve?” Where have we heard that before?



> Energy rationing proposals have already come out of several member states, including France, Italy, and Germany. President Emmanuel Macron, who has warned that France is facing the “end of abundance“…




This is exactly the kind of talk we heard in the U.S. during the energy crisis circa 1979. In fact, all that was needed was to unleash our massive petroleum resources.



> …urged citizens this week to limit their energy usage in order to prevent future government imposed rationing, mirroring similar statements from outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.




So European countries are voluntarily turning themselves into third-world nations. Will any politicians pay the price for this disaster? Don’t bet on it.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS

In spite of gloomy predictions by conservatives that she’d just be another useless WEF stooge, it seems to me that UK’s new prime minister Liz Truss, who just recently replaced disgraced covid party-PM Boris Johnson, is off to a pretty good start.

First, the Telegraph UK ran a story yesterday headlined, “Liz Truss Vows ‘Never Again’ on Exorbitant Energy Bills.” The sub-head attempts to explain, “Prime Minister pledges to ‘revolutionise’ supply as she takes action to ease household fuel crisis.”

The actual news is that starting TODAY (how’s that for fast? she was just elected Monday) Liz plans to lift Boris’ fracking moratorium, allowing Britain to take advantage of the cheapest, fastest, most successful technology for producing domestic oil. Observers also predict the new government will promptly delete carbon taxes from Brits’ energy bills.

The Telegraph also predicted the new Prime Minister will immediately move to support more oil and gas drilling in the North Sea, and will prune regulations to speed up the approval process.

You may recall that President Trump flipped the U.S. into energy independence for the first time in history in just two years using a similar strategy. Trump taught the world how to do it, and it looks like Liz is now pursuing a Trumpian energy policy.

On the other hand, Biden CANCELED fracking. And look where we are now.

That’s pretty good for her first few days in office. But that’s not all!










						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Thursday, September 8, 2022 ☙ RE-CHALLENGE 🦠
					

Liz Truss breaks bad in Britain; bad news for jabbed kids in the UK data; more celebrity and athlete SADS; Steve Kirsch is on a rampage over a new whistleblower report; today's coolest video; more.




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## GURPS

Janet Yellen: U.S. Must Look to ‘Wind, Sun’ for Energy, Not Oil and Gas​

“Our plan — powered by the Inflation Reduction Act — represents the largest investment in fighting climate change in our country’s history,” Yellen told the crowd. “It will put us well on our way toward a future where we depend on the wind, sun, and other clean sources of energy.”

“We will rid ourselves from our current dependence on fossil fuels and the whims of autocrats like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin,” Yellen added.


----------



## GURPS

Following the shutdown of Russian gas lines, there’s a new gold rush on in Germany. A stone-age gold rush. A gold rush for wood. Germans are cutting up wooden park benches and decks and everything else that isn’t made of steel or plastic, and are invading forests to cut down their trees.

Hello? Environmentalists? Climate people?

Armstrong economics published an article last week titled, “Germans Stockpiling Firewood.” The article explains that Google search results for “brennholz” (firewood) peaked this August in Germany, after German officials announced the country will continue supporting Ukraine — indefinitely. Makes sense. This will show those nasty Russians.





Reports indicate that retail firewood is GONE in Germany, the fibrous resource is being stolen in truckloads, and imports from other countries are going up in flames. Germans are hoarding piles and piles firewood in their backyards and even hiring guards to protect their splintery stashes.





Meanwhile in Russia, the price of energy dropped again. It’s not working, so they need to sanction harder!











						☕️ Coffee & Covid ☙ Friday, September 9, 2022 ☙ INFERNAL 🦠
					

Dr. Gold flies the coop; DOJ appeals special master order; parents in Idaho beat grooming festival; polls beat the Giant Mouse; Disney goes full satan; Biden hires monkeypox satanist; and lots more...




					www.coffeeandcovid.com


----------



## GURPS

Ernst Bill Would Force Biden Admin to Set Thermostats in Solidarity With Californians​

"During a hot summer, liberal leaders told folks to set the AC to 78 degrees to compensate for failed Democratic policies," Sen. Ernst said of California's energy crisis that saw days of power shortages and power officials tell residents statewide to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances, turn off unnecessary lights, and avoid charging their electric vehicles. "Secretary of Energy Granholm praised the move, saying states like California are leading by example,” Ernst reminded. 

During a swing through the Golden State just days before the threats of rolling blackouts hit, Granholm said "California is in the lead and can show the rest of the nation how it is done." Apparently, "how it is done" is sweating in the dark while your mandated electric vehicle sits dead in the driveway. 

“It’s time for Biden officials to adhere to the same regulations they’re pushing on hardworking Americans," Ernst continued of a new piece of legislation she's introducing — the Lead By Example Act — to make a point about how powerful and elite Democrats expect Americans to live by one substandard rule while they continue to enjoy uninterrupted comfort. "My bill requires EPA and the Department of Energy to set the AC no lower than 78 degrees, and provide a report to Congress on what they’ve had the AC set at in the past," Ernst said. "Not only will this make Washington bureaucrats think twice before imposing arbitrary rules on Americans, it could even save money."


----------



## Sneakers

GURPS said:


> — the Lead By Example Act —


----------



## glhs837

GURPS said:


> If that sounds a little familiar to you, join the club. It sounded familiar to GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, too:




You know, another way to lower peak use is to add storage and load shift. Allows your base generation plants to keep spinning at optimum efficiency and saving the less expensive energy generate off peak to feed back into the grid at peak, reducing the need for dirty and more expensive peaker plants. Hell, fill those storage systems with nuke or  geo or  wind and double your benefit. 

Storage systems can be as simple as pumping water uphill and letting it generate energy by spinning turbines when you let it back down. But the response time there is pretty slow but works fine for expected surges. .


----------



## GURPS

This is Bloomberg, not a parody account – believe me, I checked. Holy schamoly.

That same French grid operator RTE, referenced in the tweet, put out a relatively optimistic electricity forecast for the coming winter.



> *No risk of total blackout in France but vigilance needed – RTE*
> PARIS, Sept 14 (Reuters) – There is no risk of a total blackout in France this winter due to the current energy crisis, but some power cuts cannot be ruled out during peaks of demand, grid operator RTE said Wednesday.
> RTE said lowering national electricity consumption by 1% to 5% in most scenarios and up to 15% in an extreme scenario of gas shortage and very cold weather could help avert a power crunch. It added it would be on alert to monitor market developments from November, or sooner if needed. RTE usually starts its winter monitoring in January.
> The risks to supply are particularly high between November and January, but tense situations cannot be ruled out in October, February or March, RTE said.
> The main uncertainties in the power sector include the energy situation in neighbouring countries, demand growth over the coming months, and the restart schedule of French nuclear reactors – half of which are currently offline due to corrosion issues and planned maintenance.



After spending last week and this, writing about the self-defeating renewables/anti-fossil fuel policies of Germany, and the Netherlands, I wasn’t really up to speed on the French. Astonishingly enough in this age of hyperventilating Green tyranny, France has 56 nuclear reactors, with announced plans to build 14 new-generation reactors, and a “fleet” of smaller reactors all over the country. How’d they get so many to begin with? Unlike the United States and other countries, cowering in the face of the Saudi oil embargo of 1974, the French pro-actively went in the opposite direction and started building nuclear plants to transition from fossil fuel generated electricity.










						That's one heckuvan electricity plan, France
					

I know the Europeans are “different” from us. I get it. Culturally, politically, and philosophically – vive la difference! Most things they do that are…odd…to an American...




					hotair.com


----------



## Sneakers

Doesn't France have more nuke plants than most?

Quick lookup - 56 plants with plans for 22 more.  That's a lot for a country about the size of Texas.


----------



## SamSpade

Sneakers said:


> Doesn't France have more nuke plants than most?
> 
> Quick lookup - 56 plants with plans for 22 more.  That's a lot for a country about the size of Texas.


WE have the most nukes and produce the most power from them. We just use a lot more energy than France or Japan, and we don't RELY on so much of it for nuclear.


----------



## GURPS




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## GURPS

Patagonia founder just donated the entire company, worth $3 billion, to fight climate change​

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, his spouse and two adult children are giving away their ownership in the apparel maker he started some 50 years ago, dedicating all profits from the company to projects and organizations that will protect wild land and biodiversity and fight the climate crisis.

The company is worth about $3 billion, according to the New York Times.

In a letter about the decision, published on the Patagonia website on Wednesday, Choiunard wrote of “reimagining capitalism,” and said:



> “While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough. We needed to find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis while keeping the company’s values intact. One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money. But we couldn’t be sure a new owner would maintain our values or keep our team of people around the world employed.
> Another path was to take the company public. What a disaster that would have been. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility.
> Truth be told, there were no good options available. So, we created our own.”


----------



## GURPS

Two Democrat governors rule out California-style ban on gas vehicle sales in their own states​
"I think that that's going to be enough to really spur investments in electric vehicles," she added, referring to the electric vehicle tax benefits in the legislation that President Biden signed last month. "So we're going to start there, and I'm really excited about being able to do that and offer that to consumers."

Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who also attended the White House event, was asked for his assessment of California's ban and if he is considering something similar for his state.

"I'm not thinking about doing that," Wolf replied. "I'm not sure, the economics of that, I think, would be that as electric vehicles become more ubiquitous, and we do a better job of creating the charging stations, that more and more people are going to move to non-fossil-fuel burning vehicles."


----------



## GURPS

WEF publishes ideas on a carbon allowance system where surveillance tech is used to track personal emissions​

However, “My Carbon” and what’s dubbed as “personal allowance programs” have apparently not been a success, although the push has been there for years; but now, with tracking and surveillance technology continuing to, technically speaking, improve and become more and more ubiquitous, the idea is to start bringing those into the climate change story.

And since the share of emissions attributed to individuals in cities is 40%, the proposal is to tackle those things that are now identified by WEF and its cohorts as standing in the way of personal allowance programs taking root: social and political resistance, a lack of awareness, and, of “fair mechanisms” to track individual emissions.






The post, which says the views are “those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum,” sees “an improved” world not only when it comes to technology, but also society, and mentions the catastrophic pandemic restrictions in a positive tone, as proof that billions of people can effectively be trained to show “individual social responsibility.”

_Good old Covid_ was a test for that. “A huge number of unimaginable restrictions for public health were adopted by billions of citizens across the world,” the WEF blog piece says approvingly.


----------



## Sneakers

I'll give them some personal emissions to track....


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS

WSJ Prints Blistering Editorial Ripping Gore/Kerry for Bullying World Bank With Insane Climate Demands​





The _Journal_ points out that bringing third-world countries into the first world…



> …requires energy, which today is still *most efficiently and affordably provided by fossil fuels*. Yet Mr. Kerry recently cautioned African leaders against investing in long-term natural gas production, as if they have an alternative if they want to develop.
> This is an indulgence in a place like California, which is affluent enough to pay twice what its neighboring states do for energy. [_Emphasis mine_.]



By the way, no, California is *not* affluent enough to pay twice what its neighbors pay. People are moving out in droves because they can’t afford to live here. But I digress. The editorial continues:



> …it amounts to condemning countries in Africa and much of the developing world to more decades of poverty.



Although California is not Africa, similar dynamics are at play. The powers-that-be say they’re going to ban gas-powered cars by 2035, but in the next breath, they beg you not to charge your car because the electric grid can’t handle it. Simply put, you can’t shut off the gas unless you have a replacement—and they don’t. Asking Africa to starve so Gore and Kerry can feel better about climate change is ludicrous. You’d think they’d have learned their lesson after seeing the disaster that unfolded in Sri Lanka (covered here by our Joe Cunningham) while trying to have a developing country hurt itself to appease the climate gods.


The _WSJ_ piles on:



> Kerry may even be consigning poor countries to needless hunger from rising prices and perhaps a global shortage of natural gas for fertilizer. Climate monomania is easier to preach with a sea-side view from a bluff in Martha’s Vineyard than it is from a village with unreliable electricity in the Congo.
> *As the world is painfully learning, the technology doesn’t exist for a rapid transition to a world without fossil fuels.* [_Emphasis mine_.]


----------



## GURPS




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## GURPS

Apparent Sabotage Disables Nord Stream 1 and 2, Cutting Off All Direct Gas Supply to Germany from Russia​

Yesterday evening, pressure in the undersea Nord Stream 2 pipeline suddenly collapsed, and gas could be seen bubbling to the surface of the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm. Shortly afterwards, reports came of a total collapse in the pressure of our other major undersea pipeline connection to Russia, Nord Stream 1, indicating a further rupture.

Government officials assume that the damage is intentional, and the result of an attack by foreign forces:



> Due to the timing, the fact that three separate pipelines were affected1, and the severe pressure losses in Nord Stream 1, officials expect the worst. “We can no longer imagine any scenario other than a targeted attack,” said a person privy to the assessment by the federal government and federal authorities. They added: “Everything speaks against a coincidence.”
> Such an attack on the seabed would be anything but trivial; it would have to be carried out with special forces – for example, by navy divers or a submarine, people informed of initial assessments said.
> With regard to responsibility for the alleged attacks, two possibilities are being discussed. First, according to initial speculation, Ukrainian or *Ukrainian-affiliated forces* could be responsible. With the temporary shutdown of the Nord Stream pipelines, gas deliveries from Russia to Germany and Central Europe would only be possible via the Yamal pipelinje running through Poland or the Ukrainian pipeline network.


----------



## stgislander

That doesn't sound good.


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## Sneakers

Drunk captain dragging an anchor?


----------



## Clem72

GURPS said:


> Apparent Sabotage Disables Nord Stream 1 and 2, Cutting Off All Direct Gas Supply to Germany from Russia​
> 
> Yesterday evening, pressure in the undersea Nord Stream 2 pipeline suddenly collapsed, and gas could be seen bubbling to the surface of the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm. Shortly afterwards, reports came of a total collapse in the pressure of our other major undersea pipeline connection to Russia, Nord Stream 1, indicating a further rupture.
> 
> Government officials assume that the damage is intentional, and the result of an attack by foreign forces:



Listen all-yall it's a sabotage.


----------



## kwillia

Clem72 said:


> Listen all-yall it's a sabotage.


This really happened. There is more methane bubbling up in the Baltic Sea than was released by all the farting cows in the history of the world combined. 
Let’s not forget Biden”s February statements:

If Russia invades, that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine again," Biden said. "Then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”

When asked how, Biden said: "We will. I promise you. We will be able to do that."

Scholz, too, was pressed, amid Germany’s growing dependence on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

"I want to be absolutely clear: We have intensively prepared everything to be ready with necessary sanctions if there is military action against Ukraine," Scholz said.

Then just a couple months ago the CIA warned its counterparts in Berlin earlier this summer of possible attacks on gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea

What the absolute F@&K did he just do? I find it very telling that this is NOT making the news.

The Soviets WILL retaliate. The world is screwed.


----------



## kwillia

YUGE environmental disaster. YUGE hit to the Soviets yet still no very minimal coverage and not at all getting mainstream news attention. The silence is deafening.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS

The electric vehicle (EV) craze has struck the minds of progressives as the solution to all of our climate problems.  Reason and rationality are defenestrated.

You cannot tell progressive politicians that the technology for EV’s is still in its infancy.  You cannot convince them that the current state of technology makes them completely impractical and unworkable on a national scale.

We are at the same point in technological history as we were in 1896, when we transitioned from “horseless carriages” powered by steam and electric motors to gasoline engines.  What we see on the EV road today will in no way resemble what the technology ultimately comes up with.

If you examine the facts, you see this is true.  Current technology extrapolated into a nation of more than 250 million registered vehicles on the road will result in EV chaos.

The current electric grid will need to be strengthened by the development of hundreds of new nuclear power plants.  There is no political will in this country to do that, especially among those promoting EVs the hardest.  Hundreds of new windmill and solar farms aren’t going to cut it and will negatively impact the environment and wildlife much more than nuclear.

Electric cable will need to be buried across perhaps hundreds of thousands of miles throughout the nation to support at least 145,000 charging stations needed to replace existing gas stations.  They will be required at frequencies of at least every 100 miles of road, even across the Great Salt Lake and Mojave deserts and vast mountain ranges.  The logistics behind this are staggering.

Has anyone determined the economic impact of slowing road travel across the country due to the time required to wait in line at charging stations and to adequately charge an EV?  What will the impact be to crime and motorist safety in inner cities or lonely stretches of road?

Billions of giant batteries will need to be built.  When do we reach peak lithium or cobalt?  How much of the world will be devastated by strip mining using slave labor?  Where do we store the billions of batteries when they die?  The potential costs to humanity and the environment are incalculable.










						Running America on Imaginary Technology
					

The human mind has a specific talent for extrapolation.  That is, it has the propensity to project current events and technologies along a straight timeline with a constant slope into the future, predicting what the future will look like, and wh...




					www.americanthinker.com


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## GURPS

"Sorry it's freezing but your burning fuel makes the air dirty!" EU priorities​


In the environmentally conscious, Green-centric world where the Brussels commissioners live, their focus is on the air you breathe, not the mean temperature as you take that breath. Granted, it might be partially their fault – okay, mostly their fault – that the ambient air inside your humble cottage is a…_tad_ cooler than it was last winter for the now 6, 8, or even 10 times as many Euros to make it so…




> …As the Continent scrambles to avert a full-scale energy crisis, efforts to stay warm are set to drive up air pollution levels as people_ turn to coal, wood and even trash to heat their homes_.



…but “Let’s not be hasty!” I cannot imagine the horror when European Union higher-ups got word of what their Eastern EU members had encouraged their citizens to do in the face of another mostly EU self-inflicted energy crisis: a coal shortage.



> …Although the highly polluting fuel has earned pariah status as the EU looks to slash emissions, _*consumption is on the rise* as a number of countries, including Austria and the Netherlands, either switch old coal-fired plants back on or boost existing capacity to save on gas_.
> The problem is that the EU will soon be deprived of its biggest supplier: The bloc slapped sanctions on Russian coal in April, forbidding further imports starting August 10.
> …That means the 2 million tons of coal_ it is set to receive from Russia this month [JUL] *will be the last such shipment*_, said Alex Thackrah, a senior coal analyst at the market intelligence firm Argus Media.
> …Indonesia, South Africa and Colombia are all potential suppliers, but EU countries will face “extremely high prices” due to the particularly high-calorific type of coal normally used across the bloc, according to Thackrah. Coal prices on the API2 Rotterdam hub, a European benchmark, hit $380 per ton last week****, already a more than fourfold increase on this time last year.
> The EU will also face “stiff competition” from players such as India and South Korea, which have existing coal supply agreements with many of these countries, said Mark Nugent, an analyst at the shipbroker Braemar.
> Logistical issues risk complicating matters further.
> Much of the EU’s coal — which arrives via ports in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Antwerp — travels along the Rhine river by barge. Uncharacteristically high temperatures this month have lowered the river’s water levels to 65 centimeters, reducing how much cargo barges can carry by two-thirds, said Thackrah.


----------



## GURPS

NY Gov. Kathy Hochul’s maddening electric vehicle mandate​
In an all-too-tellingly-empty stunt, Gov. Kathy Hochul last week ordered the state Department of Environmental Conservation to issue regulations banning the sale of gas-powered cars, pickups and SUVs by . . . 2035.

It’s not just that she’ll be long gone by then, or that she was simply marking National Drive Electric Week by pretending to keep up with California’s similarly dubious 2035 only-electric rule.

Nor that, as even The New York Times admits, electric cars are still far too expensive and impractical for all but the rich — with vast technological and industrial progress needed before they make sense even for the middle class.


----------



## GURPS

How the Federal Reserve is using the 'green transition' as a pretext to build an American Social Credit System​

The Dossier reported last week on The Federal Reserve’s “pilot exercise” that is slated to both begin and conclude in 2023. In the piece, we discuss how what has become commonly referred to as ESG, or the climate change agenda, or the “green transition,” is acting as a trojan horse for the continuing centralization and the increasing of surveillance in the American financial system. Across the West, this movement is now acting as the chief catalyst for the implementation of Chinese Communist Party-like social credit score systems.

To continue this crucial conversation, here’s some more detail about how we can expect this “pilot exercise” to move forward in the coming months.

In all likelihood, The Fed will follow in the footsteps of the Eurosystem.

In January 2022, the European Central Bank (ECB), which manages the Euro, launched its own climate “stress test.”

This quickly resulted in a July 2022 “climate action plan” to “include climate change considerations in the Eurosystem’s monetary policy framework.”




https://dossier.substack.com/p/fede...bstack&utm_campaign=post_embed&utm_medium=web


----------



## spr1975wshs

Origin of Social Credit as an economic system: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_credit


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## Kyle

GURPS said:


>



Anybody that believed that green energy was going to make things cheaper is a moron.


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## GURPS




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## GURPS




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## GURPS

The Beginnings of an All-Out Energy Catastrophe​

*Some congressional Democrats have actually reacted to the oil supply cut by explicitly calling for the insane idea of completely ceasing our military engagement with Saudi Arabia and propelling the kingdom into the arms of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. And we’re not talking about “Squad” members but House members from swing districts, like Tom Malinowski of north-central New Jersey and self-styled “pro-business” moderate Susan Wild of Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

But maintaining engagement with the cradle of Islam, which for many years has been an invaluable ally to the United States against potential nuclear-armed terrorist state Iran, and encouraging the far-from-free and often morally objectionable Riyadh regime to continue on its slow if not dubious path of domestic moderation, is vital to the security of America and the free world. Just as we joined with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany, we have to live in the real world and work with disreputable powers in opposing greater evils and real threats, particularly Iran.*

[clip]

*The United States, which defied the experts and became energy independent under Trump, has under Biden shown friend and foe in the world alike just how weak its international hand is. A presumed superpower that is at ideological war with its own domestic energy industry is in no position to negotiate anything with the world’s major oil suppliers. This president, upon taking office last year, scrapped the Keystone XL pipeline that was a few months away from transporting 800,000 barrels of oil a day into the United States. Soon thereafter he issued a series of executive orders obstructing all new oil and natural gas leases on government-held land. This administration has the ignoble distinction of having provided the fewest oil leases of any in the post-war period. It has abused the Defense Production Act of 1950, enacted to support the Korean War effort, to subsidize the production of solar panels.*

We are already experiencing the highest inflation in four decades, with a recession already happening or about to. After pleading with and being rebuffed by an ally we called a murderer, we may now pivot and implore an outright enemy in South America to supply us with the U.S. economy’s lifeblood, which we could and should be supplying for ourselves. Biden has already depleted our emergency Strategic Petroleum Reserve by about 40 percent, down to 416 million barrels, its lowest level since 1984.

We have been led out onto thin economic ice, which could collapse beneath us given the wrong combination of conditions—say, a serious global oil shock raising the price-per-gallon into double digits, compounded by deep recession, the spread of Europe’s double-digit inflation to our shores, and some unforeseen military aggression abroad.

Experiencing that magnitude of disaster, few among the hordes of unemployed will find much mirth in the Biden gas pump stickers reminding them, “I did that.”


----------



## GURPS




----------



## GURPS

*Energy Inflation Isn’t An Accident, It’s A Planned Demolition*



Foremost among these is the steep decline in U.S. oil refinery capacity triggered when Covid lockdowns crushed demand but continued after the economy reopened. There has never been such a large fall in operable refinery capacity. Moreover, Gulf Coast refineries were operating at 97 percent of their operating capacity in June 2022. As Toomey remarks, “There isn’t any more blood to be squeezed out of this turnip.”

Toomey identifies five factors driving this decline in refinery capacity. EPA biofuel blending mandates impose crippling costs on smaller refineries. When conventional refineries are converted to processing biofuels, up to 90 percent of their capacity is lost.

Biofuel mandates cost consumers far more than federal excise taxes. Toomey demonstrates that the Biden administration’s claim that biofuel mandates protect consumers from oil-price volatility is totally false; biofuel prices, he writes, “are essentially indexed to the price of crude oil.”

Biden could order the reversal of the EPA’s retroactive biofuel threshold rules. That he has not done so demonstrates that the administration isn’t serious about making energy affordable again. High prices for fossil fuel energy are an intended part of the plan.

Corporate and Wall Street ESG policies are another factor driving refinery closures, especially of facilities owned by European oil companies to meet punishing decarbonization targets that will effectively end up sunsetting them as oil companies. If finalized as proposed, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed climate disclosure rules, with the strong support of the Biden administration, will heighten the vulnerability of U.S. oil and gas companies to climate activists and woke investors to force them to progressively divest their carbon-intensive activities, such as refining crude oil, and eventually out of the oil and gas sector altogether.

To these should be added aggressive federal policies aimed at phasing out gasoline-powered vehicles in favor of electric vehicles (EVs); an administration staffed from top to bottom by militants who believe that climate is the only thing that matters in politics; and an increasingly hostile political climate (“You know the deal,” Biden said of oil executives when campaigning for the presidency. “When they don’t deliver, put them in jail”).


----------



## GURPS




----------



## Kyle

GURPS said:


>



If they hadn't turned in all their guns they could have taken back their country and ended the stupidity. 

Instead they'll suffer for it.


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## GURPS

Green power firms face windfall tax to fund lower energy bills ​Summary by Ground News

Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched plans for a cap on revenues of low-carbon electricity generators. It effectively amounts to a temporary windfall tax on the sector's profits.


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## GURPS

Government plans cap on revenues of renewable energy firms​

The Energy Prices Bill will be introduced in the commons on Wednesday to bring into law *its plan to help households and businesses with soaring energy costs* over the winter and beyond.

But late on Tuesday, the government revealed the bill would also seek to "sever the link between high global gas prices and the cost of low-carbon electricity" through a new temporary "cost-plus revenue limit" in England and Wales.

*The government said the price of gas decides the price of electricity, so as gas prices soared over the last year, many of Britain's wind farms and solar farms were paid a lot more than normal for their products, even though their costs had not increased very much.*

Renewable firms were "benefiting from abnormally high prices, while consumers are having to pay significantly more for energy generated from renewables and nuclear, even though they often cost less to produce", it said.


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## GURPS

*Democrats face a green energy fiasco*


When the act became law, the Repeat Project estimated that the legislation could, by 2030, reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 42% below 2005 levels.

However, that outcome depends on more than doubling the historical growth rate of electricity transmission in the U.S. Currently, electricity capacity grows at just over 1% per year. Even doubling the growth rate will not be adequate, according to the researchers at Project Repeat.

The $379 billion of green energy subsidies of the Inflation Reduction Act will increase demand for the consumption of electric-powered vehicles, heat pumps, and other electrified goods. Electricity demand will increase. The supply of electricity must grow to meet demand. Democrats routinely enact policies to increase demand, but they ignore supply. Inflation and shortages follow. See, for example, the Affordable Care Act health reform law .

Increasing the growth rate of electricity transmission will not happen without comprehensive legislation on permitting reform. Moreover, the magnitude of the task to transform the U.S. economy can only be fully understood in the context of the land required for green energy projects. Consider that researchers say wind and solar expansion would require up to 590,000 square kilometers of land. That amount of land is larger than New England plus Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. That is big. It will not happen.


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## GURPS

19-State Coalition Launching an Investigation into Six Major Banks Over Ties to UN Net-Zero Banking Alliance​
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced today that his office and 18 other attorneys general served six major American banks with civil investigative demands. These demands act as a subpoena and seek documents relating to the banks’ involvement with the United Nations Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which is part of a trend toward environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing. Missouri, Arizona, Kentucky, and Texas are leading the investigation,

The banks served with demands include Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo. NZBA-member banks must set emissions reduction targets in their lending and investment portfolios to reach net zero by 2050. According to the NZBA’s governance document:



> In addition to net-zero by 2050 commitments, banks must set targets for 2030 or sooner which are in line with a low/no overshoot scenario consistent with 1.5 degree warming to cover a significant majority of emissions including in at least one priority sector within 18 months of joining and set targets for all or a substantial majority of listed high emitting sectors within 36 months of signing and  annually report on targets and progress.


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## GURPS

Europe now has a natural gas oversupply (if you include ships waiting to unload)​

When Russia started playing with the gas supply, prices went way up but now the opposite is happening. Prices have dropped below $100 for the first time in months and there are lots of liquified natural gas tankers floating off the coasts of Europe waiting to unload.



> Sixty LNG tankers have been idling or slowly sailing around northwest Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Iberian Peninsula, according to MarineTraffic. One is anchored at the Suez Canal. Eight LNG vessels that came from the U.S. are underway to Spain’s Huelva port.
> “The wave of LNG tankers has overwhelmed the ability of the European regasification facilities to unload the cargoes in a timely manner,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates…
> European gas prices had soared above 340 euros ($332.6) per megawatt hour in late August, but this week dipped below $100 for the first time since Russia cut supplies. Before the war, the price had been as low as 30 euros.


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## GURPS

*Wind Farm Demolished For Coal Mine*




*The German coal mine Garzweiler, operated by energy company RWE, admits the situation appears to be "paradoxical" — sacrificing one energy source for another — but defended the decision as necessary to strengthen supplies amid the ongoing energy crisis, Oilprice.com reported.*

"We realize this comes across as paradoxical," RWE spokesperson Guido Steffen said in a statement. "But that is as matters stand."

One of the wind farm’s eight wind turbines was dismantled last week, and two others are expected to be taken down next year. The remaining five turbines will be dismantled by the end of 2023, said a spokesperson for the company that builds and runs the wind farm.

RWE’s decision to expand into the Keyenberg wind farm, which is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, has drawn the ire of climate activists. 

North-Rhine Westphalia’s ministry for economic and energy affairs repeatedly advocated against the destruction of the wind turbines.

"In the current situation, all potential for the use of renewable energy should be exhausted as much as possible and existing turbines should be in operation for as long as possible," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement earlier this week, according to the Guardian.


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## GURPS

Massachusetts offshore wind project "no longer viable"​

A wind energy company named Avangrid has been in the process of developing a massive offshore wind farm called the Commonwealth Wind project, working with the support of the state of Massachusetts for several years. When completed, it was to be a 1,200-megawatt energy source. A second offshore project from Mayflower Wind was to produce an additional 400 megawatts. But now, the companies behind both of these projects have asked the state to put the plans on hold. The reason given was that the projects are “no longer viable” under the current conditions and they will be unable to move forward for the time being. But the reason for hitting the brakes has little to do with technology or weather and a great deal to do with the economy. (New Bedford Light)



> A major offshore wind project in the Massachusetts pipeline “is no longer viable and would not be able to move forward” under the terms of contracts filed in May. Both developers behind the state’s next two offshore wind projects are asking state regulators to pause review of the contracts for one month amid price increases, supply shortages and interest rate hikes.
> Utility executives working with assistance from the Baker administration last year chose Avangrid’s roughly 1,200-megawatt Commonwealth Wind project and a 400 MW project from Mayflower Wind in the third round of offshore wind procurement to continue the state’s pursuit of establishing cleaner offshore wind power. Contracts, or power purchase agreements (PPAs), for the projects were filed with the Department of Public Utilities in May.



As noted above, these wind farms aren’t being put on hold because the wind suddenly stopped blowing offshore. (Though that does happen from time to time.) Nor were the developers running into problems with their turbines, or at least no more than usual. As with so many things in American politics and the industrial sector… _it’s the economy, stupid_.

The problems being cited by the developers are no doubt familiar to almost all of you by now. They are describing global commodity price increases, sudden increases in interest rates, and supply chain woes that are slowing production and driving up costs. Declining labor force levels are adding additional concerns. All of these factors are combining to make the construction of the project unsustainable.

*There’s an obvious bit of irony in seeing the same state and federal government actors who have pushed “green energy” down everyone’s throats sitting on this particular sideline. Those same people whose policies helped drive this collapse in the supply chain and the labor market, along with the spike in the prices of pretty much everything, are now watching as one of their signature “clean energy” achievements falls victim to the conditions they created.*


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## spr1975wshs

GURPS said:


> Massachusetts offshore wind project "no longer viable"


Ooops.


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## GURPS

Biden says coal plants 'all across America' will be shut down, replaced with wind and solar​


"I was in Massachusetts about a month ago on the site of the largest old coal plant in America," Biden said at an event in Carlsbad, California, on Friday. "Guess what? It cost them too much money. They can't count. No one is building new coal plants because they can’t rely on it. Even if they have all the coal guaranteed for the rest of the existence of the plant.

"So it's going to become a wind generation. And all they're doing is it’s going to save them a hell of a lot of money and using the same transmission line that they transmitted the coal-fired electric on, we're going to be shutting these plants down all across America and having wind and solar power, also providing tax credits to help families buy energy efficient appliances, whether it's your refrigerator or your coffee maker, for solar panels on your home, weatherize your home, things that save an average, experts say, a minimum of $500 a year for the average family."


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## GURPS

Gore announces fossil fuel emissions inventory at UN summit​
The inventory was compiled by Climate TRACE, a coalition of researchers, data analysts and non-governmental organizations who use multiple open sources including satellite coverage, remote sensing and artificial intelligence to track who exactly is polluting, and how much.

Emissions stemming from oil and gas production were already estimated to be about double what was reported to the U.N. last year and new data on methane leaks and flaring suggests that emissions are likely three times higher than what was reported, Gore said. Methane is a greenhouse gas which is around 80 times more potent in the short term than carbon dioxide.

Gore said the data shows the extent of the “deep cut in greenhouse gas pollution we need to prevent the most catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis.”


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## GURPS

Climate activists: Whoa! We're shipping way too much natural gas​


More countries around the world, particularly in Europe, are realizing something that United States has known for a long time. (Or at least we knew it until Joe Biden took office.) Natural gas is one of the most plentiful and affordable energy sources we have at our disposal and it meets the needs of humanity in both heating and power generation when given the opportunity to do so. Sadly, we are still in the midst of a global energy crisis, but that issue is slowly being tamed via US exports of natural gas, particularly LNG (liquified natural gas). But this week we saw various news outlets including the Associated Press raising the alarm and saying that all of this natural gas being shipped around the planet will “catastrophically hinder” the chances of reducing global warming. Apparently, they expect a lot of people to voluntarily freeze to death this winter in the name of climate change.




> The war-inspired natural gas boom is undermining already insufficient efforts to limit future warming to just a few more tenths of a degree, a new report says.
> Planning and build-up of liquified and other natural gas — due to an energy crisis triggered by Russian’s invasion of Ukraine — would add 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (1.9 billion metric tons) a year to the air by 2030, according to a report released Thursday by Climate Action Tracker at international climate talks in Egypt.
> That’s enough greenhouse gas to “hinder if not catastrophically hinder chances of achieving 1.5 degrees” Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, the international warming-limiting goal, said climate scientist Bill Hare, chief executive officer of Climate Analytics, one of the groups behind Climate Action Tracker, which monitors and analyzes climate promises and action.




The first thing to take note of here is how the AP continues to push the White House PR line of blaming the energy crisis entirely on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war certainly hasn’t helped matters any, but it’s hardly the only contributing factor to the ongoing shortages. But this incorrect explanation allows both the United States government and those of many European nations to dodge the blame for the damages their own “green energy” policies have created.


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## GURPS

First Solar selects Alabama for new factory as Inflation Reduction Act prompts domestic manufacturing boom​

First Solar will spend around $1.1 billion on the facility in North Alabama’s Lawrence County. The company announced plans for a new facility in August, but hadn’t yet disclosed the location. First Solar CEO Mark Widmar previously told CNBC that the Inflation Reduction Act was the key catalyst that led First Solar to choose the U.S. for its latest factory.

The new facility will produce 3.5 gigawatts of solar modules annually by 2025. The company said the site will create more than 700 new jobs. 

All told, First Solar plans to manufacture more than 10 gigawatts of solar modules by 2025. The company’s other three facilities – one of which is slated to come online during the first half of 2023 – are in Ohio. With the latest Alabama factory announcement, First Solar said it’s invested more than $4 billion in U.S. manufacturing.


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## Kyle

I wonder if anyone mentioned to them that all these solar absorbing panel farms are diminishing the natural reflection of a portion of heat that radiates to the planet and are likely contributing to the continued warming of the earth.


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## spr1975wshs

Kyle said:


> I wonder if anyone mentioned to them that all these solar absorbing panel farms are diminishing the natural reflection of a portion of heat that radiates to the planet and are likely contributing to the continued warming of the earth.


I venture the guess they do not know what albedo is...


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## GURPS

How Joe Biden caused the diesel supply crisis he is complaining about​


During recent public appearances, President Joe Biden has continued to complain about energy prices as well as the potentially catastrophic shortage of diesel that has been forecast to hit the United States soon, particularly in the northeast. Of course, he never takes the blame for any of this himself. He instead tries to blame the “greedy” energy companies or, of course, Vladimir Putin. He has called for bans on oil and gas exports and even suggested a mandate that diesel stocks be maintained at a higher level. But a new report from the Institute for Energy Research addresses the actual root of these problems. What we’re facing is a significant loss in refinery capacity in the United States and its various territories. We’ve lost more than a million barrels per day in production capacity, but rather than working to rebuild that capacity, the White House is issuing new edicts that will result in diminishing it further.




> President Biden is complaining about diesel prices and production and his Administration is looking at banning petroleum exports or placing minimum requirements on diesel stocks, which they think will fix the problem. The real problem is that the United States lost one million barrels a day of refinery capacity due to reductions in demand from COVID lockdowns, refinery conversions to biofuels due to lucrative subsidies and onerous environmental regulations.
> Emissions rules and general regulations have increased under the Biden administration, raising operating costs and causing some refineries to either shut down or not expand operations. The Biden Administration is doing nothing to fix the real problem. Instead, it is putting new environmental requirements on a refinery in St. Croix that could help the diesel situation in the Northeast.




Banning petroleum exports (which are already at severely low levels) would only cut off markets, making the American oil and gas industry even less profitable, thereby disincentivizing any efforts to expand capacity. And as for an executive order directing a specific amount of diesel to be kept in stock, well… that’s simply insane. You can’t order more diesel to magically appear with a few scribbles of a pen. Someone has to produce the required oil, move it to a refinery, and create the diesel.


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## GURPS

State Attorneys General Move To Block Vanguard’s Climate Crusade From Impacting Public Power Grids​

Attorneys general from multiple conservative states and nonprofit organization Consumers’ Research filed motions seeking to prevent Vanguard from purchasing shares in publicly traded utilities out of a concern that the company’s climate change efforts will raise prices and decrease energy reliability.

The motions filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission argue that Vanguard should not be eligible for blanket authorization to buy shares in public utilities under the Federal Power Act because the asset manager uses market power to advance decarbonization goals. Along with rival firms BlackRock and State Street, Vanguard participates in the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, through which the companies commit to seek “net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner” using investment funds.

“We took this action on behalf of American energy consumers because time and time again we see massive Wall Street firms pretending to ‘passively’ manage their shares, but instead they use those assets to bully utility companies into adopting radical left-wing policies that drive up electric bills and risk the stability of our power grid,” Consumers’ Research Executive Director Will Hild remarked in a statement provided to The Daily Wire.

Among other examples, the group’s complaint noted that Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street coordinated to elect three climate-conscious board members to Exxon Mobil, which subsequently announced a $15 billion commitment to lower emissions while abandoning certain oil and gas projects. BlackRock has taken “voting action on climate issues” against dozens of its portfolio companies, according to an investment stewardship report.


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## GURPS

Cha-ching! EPA quietly quadruples regulatory cost of carbon emissions in new war on fossil fuels​


The new estimate has sent shockwaves through the energy industry and raised the stakes for ongoing litigation being brought by Republican attorneys general in states like Louisiana that are challenging the Biden administration Social Cost of Carbon rule making as unconstitutional.

*One of the key litigators told Just the News that if the Social Coat of Carbon rule stands it one day will affect the prices consumers pay on products from the dinner table to the heating furnace.*

"If you think about the fact that they would impose this damage factor, let's say on farmers, because it applies to fertilizer," Louisiana Solicitor General Liz Muiller said in an interview on the John Solomon Reports podcast. "Fertilizer emits nitrous oxide. So fertilizer is a big contributor. If every family farmer now is going to have to pay more to obtain fertilizer to fertilize crops that feed us, well, what's that going to do to the price of food?

"If you're industrial, if you use plastic products in anything that's touched by petroleum, it's going to increase the cost of producing those goods. And that's all going to be passed on to the consumer."

*The next arguments in Louisiana's case occur Dec. 7 in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Muiller said the government has tried to argue the Social Cost of Carbon figure isn't being used yet in official government actions but she and other states have evidence it is already being used in the regulatory process.*

The Social Cost of Carbon is a concept first embraced by the Obama administration in 2009, which set up an interagency working group that calculated the cost to be $51 per metric ton of greenhouse gas emissions. The Trump administration reduced that estimate to $1 to $7 per metric ton, and then Biden's team returned to the $51 figure in 2021.

While loathed by the energy industry and energy-producing states and mostly unknown to most Americans, the Social Cost of Carbon effort is championed by environmental groups. The Sierra Club, for instance, last year published an article boasting the rule was the "most important climate policy lever you've never heard about."

"Right-wing free-market fundamentalists hate it," the environmental group wrote. "Progressive policy wonks love it. Some climate advocates say that without it the United States has little chance of getting a grip on our greenhouse gas problem."

The EPA is the first agency to publicly propose a massive adjustment upwards. It buried the new figure in a 137-page draft supplemental report that was attached this month to new methane emissions rules for the natural gas industry, catching many by surprise.

[clip]

Tim Stewart, the president of the U.S. Oil and Gas Association, told Just the News on Wednesday that his industry has already calculated the future increases Americans will pay on products based on the new estimates the Biden administration put forth this month.

*At the $340 price point, for instance, there would be a $2.99 tax/penalty per gallon of gasoline and $3.47 per gallon of diesel, Stewart said.

"In other words, EPA is saying you're causing $3 in damages for every gallon of gasoline you use," he explained.*


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## GURPS

Swiss Prepare to Spend the Winter Bored, Cold, and Trapped at Home​

The contingency plan calls for three levels of energy rationing.

Under the least extreme, most buildings would be limited to 20C (68F) and “people will be asked to limit their washing machines to a maximum of 40C [104F].”

Under the mid-tier, retail stores could find their hours reduced by two each shopping day, many buildings would have their heat limited to 19C (66F), and nightclubs wouldn’t be allowed any heat at all — although given the other restrictions, that point might be moot.

Sports stadiums? Closed. Movie theaters, too.

But the Swiss might not find much relief at home, either. Should the worst come to pass, gaming consoles and streaming services like Netflix will go on the _verboten_ list.


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## GURPS

The coming crash of the Climate Cult​

We live beside a major highway in Queensland, Australia, and we can hear the roar of the traffic.

The road is quiet at night, but as day dawns, the real workers start moving — big diesel trucks off to pick up the day's loads of gravel, machinery, cattle, tanks, pipes, hay, timber, bricks, and concrete.  Then comes the traffic that sustains urban life: meat vans, milk tankers, and refrigerated trucks of produce to fill supermarket shelves every day.  Around sunrise come the commuters heading for city jobs, and the city's electric trains, elevators, and escalators start to run.  Then kids are delivered to school, and sirens announce the occasional passing of ambulances, fire engines, and police bikes and cars.  Finally, the tree-change bureaucrats cruise past in their electric cars, heading for their leisurely staggered starts.  By 9 A.M., the traffic falls off.

To achieve net-zero nirvana, all of this early-morning traffic rush must be battery-powered.  Untold thousands of batteries will need to be fully charged overnight — well before the vast paddocks of Chinese solar panels can deliver one amp of green electricity.

Listen here to Australia's new prime minister during the recent election campaign explaining how rooftop solar will charge all those Tesla batteries overnight.


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## spr1975wshs

I'd be willing to go with a hybrid, not a full electric.


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## GURPS

GUESS WHAT: ELECTRICITY ISN’T FREE​One of my favorite indicators of ignorance are the people who buy personalized license plates, or affix stickers, for their electric cars that say “Emission Free.” Even if you ignore the enormous environmental impacts associated with manufacturing an electric car (which are significantly higher than a gasoline-powered car), if you live in a state that generates a lot of its electricity from coal, you are essentially driving a coal-powered car.
The next most ignorant view is that at least you don’t have to buy expensive gasoline! People seem to forget that electricity isn’t free, from whatever source. It seems Europe is waking up to this:



> *Rising Power Prices in Europe Are Making EV Ownership More Expensive*





> BERLIN—Rocketing electricity prices are increasing the cost of driving electric vehicles in Europe, in some cases making them more expensive to run than gas-powered models—a change that could threaten the continent’s electric transition. . .
> Coming just as some governments are removing subsidies for EV buyers, this change could slow down EV sales, threaten the region’s greenhouse-gas emission targets, and make it hard for European car makers to recoup the high costs of their electric transition. . .


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## Kyle

GURPS said:


> GUESS WHAT: ELECTRICITY ISN’T FREE​One of my favorite indicators of ignorance are the people who buy personalized license plates, or affix stickers, for their electric cars that say “Emission Free.” Even if you ignore the enormous environmental impacts associated with manufacturing an electric car (which are significantly higher than a gasoline-powered car), if you live in a state that generates a lot of its electricity from coal, you are essentially driving a coal-powered car.
> The next most ignorant view is that at least you don’t have to buy expensive gasoline! People seem to forget that electricity isn’t free, from whatever source. It seems Europe is waking up to this:


Imagine that.

higher demand, causing higher prices.

Who’d have thunk it?


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